Of Illusion and Thunder
by DawnCloud221
Summary: When an unlikely trio are called upon to join the Avengers, they bring with them news of an upcoming war on earth. Lakshmi leads this group, born with the ability to create illusion with his mind. Unfortunately the only one who seems to be able to get close to him is the resident God Of Thunder. Is thunder the only way to shatter the ice around his heart? Set post Avengers ThorxOC
1. Like The Sun We Will Live To Rise

**Summary: **When an unlikely trio are called upon to join the Avengers, they bring with them news of an upcoming war on earth. Lakshmi leads this group, born with the ability to create illusion with his mind. Unfortunately the only one who seems to be able to get close to him is the resident God Of Thunder. Is thunder the only way to shatter the ice around his heart? Set post Avengers ThorxOC

**Warnings: **Swearing, violence, blood and sexual references (Everything that comes out of Tony Stark's mouth) Rated M because I like to swear. A lot.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the Avengers or any of the Marvel characters. Although we all wish we did. Because I would have all of the male Avengers in my basement as my sex slaves :)

**Started:** 6/6/12

**Challenge: **If you can tell me the title of the song I use for each chapter title in a review and the name of the artist, I will send you a snippet of the next chapter, the size of the snippet varying in length depending on how impressed I am with your review. This doesn't mean you start ass-kissing, constructive criticism is highly encouraged as it means my stories get better and I improve as a writer. Flames will be laughed at and I will use them to keep warm at night. YOU HAVE BEEN TOLD!

* * *

"Normal speech"

"_Animals talking. Only Lakshmi and other animals can understand this"_

_Memories, thoughts or dreams. Occasionally emphasis on words._

* * *

**Chapter One**

'_Like The Sun We Will Live To Rise'_

* * *

***A forest somewhere in Canada***

The forest was quiet. No, it was completely silent. No wind blew, no leaves rustled. Not even the birds dared make a sound. They knew a dangerous predator was in their midst. Something new. Something alien.

The man in question stumbled through the forest, although he wasn't really and truly a man. He appeared human enough, if a little tall. He stood at a good six foot, and he was lean and willowy. It was clear he had not eaten in quite a while, as every one of his ribs was visible. His skin was tan and littered with shiny silver scars. This showed off by the fact he was wearing nothing but a torn pair of shorts. His hair was long; it reached all the way down to the middle of his thighs, and had been tied loosely in a ponytail with a blue shred of fabric about halfway down his back. The majority of the hair was a pale shade of black, but from his waist downwards it was dyed a blood red.

He was dusty and travel worn, and his ruby red eyes had a haunted appearance to them. The forest around him seemed to hold its breath as the man trekked through it, wary of the great power he held, locked away beneath the surface.

For this was the great Lakshmi, master of illusion, shape shifter, and genius. He was known for his cold indifference, and great skill with the mind. He could bring people back from the farthest brink of insanity, or toss them so far into its waters they would never be the same again. He created his illusions with his mind and ensnared all five of your senses to make you believe they were real. His illusions were the stuff of demons nightmares, or the most kindly angel's dreams.

But now he was injured, and even if he would never admit it, scared. He had been tossed from his home world as it was torn apart by war. He was a Kaame. Or now, more aptly, the Kaame. The last of his kind.

He had fallen through space. So far, so cold. The he had crashed, burning… burning. He had landed on a far off planet called earth. He had been travelling alone for thousands of years, and now it seemed he had reached the end of the line. His only option was to hang around on earth for a couple of millennia until the native species created deep space travel he could use. If there was no higher life form species on this planet he was well and truly fucked.

That was his predicament now. He was lost on an unknown world with no home to return to.

What was he to do now?

He could try and leave this planet, but where would he leave to? His ship had been ripped apart as it entered atmosphere, so even if he wanted to leave he couldn't. But even if he could his planet was lost, and he was tired of being nomadic. He wanted to live his life a little, instead of spending it trying to get away from the planet he landed on.

His musings were interrupted as there was a rustle in front of him, and a young wolf cub tumbled out of the bracken. It sneezed in a rather cute way and bumbled to its feet, shaking bracken fronds off its fur. It yipped angrily at the bush, clearly scolding it in its own puppy type way for tripping it, then turned and froze like a deer caught in the headlights.

The Kaame looked at the wolf, and the wolf looked at the Kaame. Neither had seen anything like each other before. They were both gripped by curiosity, and clearly hunger.

The young cub was just as skinny as the man. He had bright green eyes and jet-black fur. A loner, as he held no scent of a mother's milk. Abandoned. Lakshmi felt a twinge of pity for the creature. He knew the feeling of being abandoned by your family early on. Strange the first creature he met on this new planet was one he could relate to.

"What are you, little one?" the man asked, kneeling down to pick up the young cub. The wolf showed no fear. He was clearly too young to know a threat when he saw one. He smiled his wolfy smile and licked the man's hands in greeting. Lakshmi blinked, and licked the top of the wolf's head it what he hoped was the correct form of greeting. Evidently it was, as the puppy gave a happy yip and wagged its tail.

"_Greetings Strange One. I am wolf. You are not,"_ the cub said simply. The Kaame was amused at the young cubs black and white view on the world, much like the children of his own species before they learnt of the different shades of grey between the two extremes. His voice held no quiver of fear, even as the Kaame stood up to full height with the cub still held at arm's length in his hands. It continued to wag its tail as it hug limply in the man's arms, trusting him completely as he stared at him with bright eyes. Lakshmi felt his heart warm to the brave little thing momentarily before his shook his head and hardened his heart lest he grow attached to the ball of fluff.

"I am a Kaame, little one. I am not of this world," the puppy cocked his head. Curiosity lit the emerald eyes. It had clearly not expected him to understand, let alone reply to him. He wondered briefly why. Did he look similar to a native species here that led to some sort of automatic assumption?

"_Name is Anubis_," the puppy barked. The Kaame considered him. He had the broken language of one still young, but he was interesting. He had tiny claws and teeth, so he must be a hunter of sorts, but why was the young thing alone?

"I am Lakshmi. Where is your mother, little one?" the wolf's eyes filled with sadness. These creatures were clearly pack animals. Not unlike the Kaame. This cub clearly feared solitude, seeking comfort in the arms of a Kaame showed this.

"_No family. I stay with you?"_ again, Lakshmi was surprised at the cub's boldness. He showed no fear as he watched the man's face contort in confusion. Lakshmi couldn't understand why anything would willingly want to be near him. He had been labelled as a freak from an early age, but clearly this little cub couldn't care less as he gazed up at him hopefully.

"No," the man said finally, placing the cub on the ground once more. The puppy looked up at him with wide eyes. The cold-hearted Kaame felt his heart warm slightly. "If you can keep up, you can come," Lakshmi said finally. Anubis gave a small happy yip and ran to the man's heel. Lakshmi frowned down at the funny creature. It was all fluff and wide eyes. What was it for? He began to stumble on once more through the darkening forest. "Where are we?" Lakshmi asked finally, as they stumbled off into the gathering twilight.

"_Earth. Canada, Lakshmi."_

* * *

***Five Years Later, Small Flat in New York***

Sunlight filtered in through the grimy window glass onto Lakshmi's face. The man grunted and rolled over, burying his face into the fur of Anubis. The wolf smelt of musky earth and dried blood. It was a familiar and comforting smell, if not a pleasant one.

The puppy had grown since they met, and had mutated after a bite at Lakshmi and a mouthful of his blood. His fur was still jet black, but his underbelly, throat and under his tail and wings was blood red, and he had red markings on his face; a red circle around the left eye and a crescent moon under the right. He was the size of a small horse now and powerfully built. Most unusual of all was the large deer-like antlers and wings he had grown. The wings were lay across his sides, and the antlers had weighed his head down on one side during the night, so they were currently resting on the floor.

The wolf in question gave a light growl as he felt his master's face tickle his chest fur, and smacked him with the corner of a wing. The loud smack reverberated around the dingy flat and Lakshmi was thrown off the boxes he'd arranged to form a bed with a resounding thud onto the dusty floor.

"Mrph! Watch it 'Nubis," Lakshmi mumbled as he attempted to disentangle himself from the grimy rag he had been sleeping under. Not exactly five stars, but it was enough to keep the warm in. Well, it kept the draft off him at any rate.

"_Stop ticklin' me_," Anubis retorted with a sleep-hazed tongue. Neither were particular morning people and this was normal morning interaction, actually, they were quite talkative this morning. Lakshmi stood up, and proceed to hobble across the room to boil the kettle. He was a zombie like this until he had buried himself in his ritual coffee. He had gained a taste for the human beverage after searching for something to make his morning less of a personal hell before his brain engaged.

Anubis gave a loud canine yawn and stretched out languidly, brushing his tail across the dirty floor, sending a small cloud of dust floating lazily into the air. He sneezed the dust away, and used a powerful beat of his wings to blow it away.

The small New York apartment these two shared wasn't exactly high end. It was situated in an area of legally questionable activities, and it was sparsely furnished. The bed was nothing more than a few rags and blankets atop some wooden crates that had been left by the previous, and the whole kitchen was a kettle, a few chipped mugs, an old set of plates and bowls, a small electric portable hob, and a battered old fridge lay out on two grimy wooden worktops. The whole place was filthy. Cobwebs hung thick from the ceiling, and many of the windows were missing, cracked, or so dirty you couldn't see out of them anyway. Not that the neighbourhood was something you'd particularly want to look at anyway.

The only personal belongings in the room were huge patches of paper on the walls. One was a huge map of the city, covered in different coloured dots and arrows. The other was different newspaper articles pinned up. It looked like something you would expect to see in a police station, or a detective agency.

Not a single picture hung in the flat. There was nothing to suggest anyway actually lived here at all, and that was how Lakshmi liked it. If he needed to, he could just leave, and no one would have even known he'd been there.

But Lakshmi didn't expect anything much higher end anyway. He had to keep a low profile, as he was an alien and his companion was a demon wolf the size of a horse. Not exactly the most conspicuous of couplings.

He left the kettle to boil and shuffled to the bathroom. He quickly ran a brush through his hair and splashed cold water on his face. His hair was still long, but it was much less wild than it had been before. It was now soft and feathery, and neatly tied back. It was still tied with that old bit of blue fabric, but it was at least clean. He tied the fabric hair band a little more securely around the hair at the centre of his back and tucked a few loose strands behind his ears.

His blood red eyes looked back at him out of the cracked bathroom window, and he repressed a sigh. The stress of these past few years had added years to his young face. This was weird because he was immortal, and didn't age. Appearance wise, he looked in his prime; about mid twenties. He had a narrow, pointed face and straight nose. He looked generally unfriendly, as his face hadn't cracked a smile in years, and he glared at nearly everyone he met to dissuade approach.

He heard the unmistakeable click of the kettle as it finished boiling, and shuffled into the kitchen.

Anubis had already got him a mug and filled it with his desired amount of coffee, knowing he would throw a fit after fumbling blindly around in the cupboard with his brain only half active. And that was being generous.

"Thanks buddy," Lakshmi mumbled, pouring water from the kettle into his mug. The demon wolf nodded and scratched his ear with his back leg.

"_Welcome. You're insufferable in the morning unless you have some coffee down your neck_," Lakshmi couldn't hear him as he readily inhaled his coffee. Anubis rolled his leaf green eyes and padded across the room. He took a quick glance at the large map, and appeared to remember something. He dipped a claw in a small pot of yellow paint and added another dot of the map.

Taking a step back, he viewed his handiwork and once more attempted to source a pattern. Each dot was a killing. The different colours represented the species of the killed. Humans, dogs, cats, aliens. The only link they could find between any of them was the way they'd been killed. They had all been mauled to death by something huge. They'd been tracking the damn thing for months, yet always seemed to be a few minutes late to catch the killer.

Sighing, Anubis headed to the window and put his paws on the windowsill and looked out at the New York skyline. He looked blearily down at the pavement in search of something interesting or unusual he could occupy his day with. That's when he saw the government agents coming into the building.

"_Erm, Lakshmi_?" he asked. Lakshmi raised his head blearily and made a hum of assent. But Anubis was interrupted by a knock on the door. The Kaame stood up with coffee cup in hand and plodded over to the door. An illusion was formed before he got to the door, and a ginger haired short man opened the door with a whining golden Labrador at his heel.

"Yeah?" Lakshmi grunted. The man was tall, one eye and black skin, dressed in a long leather coat. The man looked him up and down.

"Lakshmi?" he asked. Lakshmi managed to hide his surprise and maintain his illusion, although Anubis could see he was startled. Anubis gave a low whine and Lakshmi nudged him with a foot. The glare he was shot clearly said; _shut it._

"Er, no mate, I think you 'ave the wrong 'ouse. Name's 'Arvey," Lakshmi had covered his own rather posh accent with a thick and broad accent. The one eyed man scowled.

"Don't play games with us Lakshmi. We can use as much force as we deem necessary," the man had a knowing glint in his eye that mad the fur on Anubis's neck stand on end. "As you don't actually exist, do you?" Lakshmi scowled and dropped his illusion. Suddenly a long haired man and a demon wolf were at the door.

"Fine. Come in," he stepped to one side and allowed the man to enter. A second man entered after him. He wore a purple shirt and a pair of pale brown trousers. He was fiddling with a pair of glasses in his hands, and was looking at Anubis with wonder in his eyes.

"_Are you sure we should let them in?_" Anubis asked nervously, shuffling from one paw to the other under the careful scrutiny of the other man.

"Sure, why not? If they do cause a stir, it's not as though they'll ever leave," Lakshmi shrugged, already making himself another coffee.

"_You are still in your pyjamas you know_," he was indeed still in nothing more than a pair of simple drawstring trousers, revealing a well-muscled and severely scarred chest that had filled out well since first arriving on earth. Lakshmi scowled at his stupidity and quickly donned an illusion of complete dress. It was nothing more than a pair of jeans and a red tee, but at least he wasn't visibly half naked in the presence of two strange men.

"Fascinating," the man wearing the purple shirt muttered, starting to walk curiously around the demon wolf. "You can speak its language?" he asked turning to look at Lakshmi. He had science geek written all over him, and Lakshmi decided he didn't particularly hate this man, and by his standards, that was equivalent to liking him.

"Errr, yeah, I suppose. I've never had any problem understanding any of earth's Leara. Humans just don't listen well enough,"

"Leara?" the man asked, running a finger along a claw the length of his forearm.

"Oh, er, animals," Lakshmi quickly explained. "I'm Lakshmi by the way," he added. "And this is Anubis," he pointed at the wolf who was getting quite concerned at the scientist.

"_Is this man alright in the head_?" he asked, raising a paw as the scientist looked in-between his toes. The one eyed man chose this moment to intervene.

"Well I'm Director Nick Fury, and this is Bruce Banner," Lakshmi nodded vaguely, pouring himself another cup of coffee, not bothering to offer the other two men one. He didn't even know them, so he figured, why bother? Anubis gave a loud yelp as Bruce accidently prodded a sensitive part of his foot and flared his wings. He lowered his head and brandished his antlers at Bruce, warning him back.

"Would you call your guy off my friend?" Lakshmi said finally. It was rather creepy watching his closest and only companion being touched like this. Bruce backed off and stood next to Fury and Anubis relaxed, moving to sit next to Lakshmi by the kitchen worktop.

"We have come to offer you a job," Nick said finally, carefully watching the both for a reaction. Lakshmi saw him glance at where the map was. Luckily, Lakshmi had already covered it all with a very thick illusion. Only dusty wall was visible. "I'm sure you witnessed the actions of the Avengers last year," Lakshmi sniffed.

"Not particularly. We were traveling in Australia. I don't do the big city thing often," he looked around his grubby apartment in distaste. He was only here because the heat was up after traveling around so much. Humans tended to notice some of these things eventually, usually only where money was concerned, and this of course was the reason he was in bother. He used illusioned money to get around, but eventually humans noticed when it vanished from the till once he was out of range, and he knew he had to lay low and live legitly for a few months. Fury smirked.

"I figured as much. Your money trail is the only way to track you. Where ever money mysteriously vanishes is usually where you've been. We even had a case of it vanishing out of someone's hand. Gone out of thin air they said," behind Lakshmi's illusion, he blushed ever so slightly. Whoops. Anubis sniggered and Lakshmi swatted him on the shoulder.

"So what do you want me for?" he asked finally, sighing with resignation.

"We need more members for our team, in case anything goes wrong again. We also want to ally with neighbouring planets. We have Asgard on our side, but it's not enough," Lakshmi huffed.

"Never did like the Asgardians. Too uptight and unfriendly," he gave a long drawn out sigh and relented. "Very well, I need a job anyway," a few bits of rafters fell out of the ceiling and onto the floor.

"I can see that." Bruce said wryly. Lakshmi raised an eyebrow and set his coffee cup down.

"What's the pay?" he asked slyly. He didn't care about money in the slightest, but it would be nice to have some just in case. Fury smirked at him.

"Your pay depends on what you do. You get paid when you work. I do believe that's fair," Lakshmi shrugged. Sounded fair enough. He wasn't bothered about getting paid for doing nothing, so being paid only when he worked was a fair deal.

"Well then, I better pack," he pushed himself off the worktop and stretched. "And get dressed." He added as an afterthought. Anubis just sniggered at him.

* * *

**Authors Note**

So, this is the first chapter of my latest fic. I've written ahead a lot with this, so it shouldn't grind to a halt like my last one sorta did, and I'm much faster at typing so I should hurry my ass along and update much quicker. I'm aiming for an update every monday, so it gives me a week to write it out and edit the chap do it's wonderful for your viewing pleasure. You have to remember I do have a life (Even if it's a shit one) so the updates might not run like clockwork but there will be an upload a week for definite. Please review to feed my muse. (If I get LOTS of reviews I might update early... _hint hint, nudge nudge_)


	2. They Are Fighting

**Summary: **When an unlikely trio are called upon to join the Avengers, they bring with them news of an upcoming war on earth. Lakshmi leads this group, born with the ability to create illusion with his mind. Unfortunately the only one who seems to be able to get close to him is the resident God Of Thunder. Is thunder the only way to shatter the ice around his heart? Set post Avengers ThorxOC

**Warnings: **Swearing, violence, blood and sexual references (Everything that comes out of Tony Stark's mouth) Rated M because I like to swear. A lot.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the Avengers or any of the Marvel characters. Although we all wish we did. Because I would have all of the male Avengers in my basement as my sex slaves :)

**Started:** 6/6/12

**Challenge: **If you can tell me the title of the song I use for each chapter title in a review and the name of the artist, I will send you a snippet of the next chapter, the size of the snippet varying in length depending on how impressed I am with your review. This doesn't mean you start ass-kissing, constructive criticism is highly encouraged as it means my stories get better and I improve as a writer. Flames will be laughed at and I will use them to keep warm at night. YOU HAVE BEEN TOLD!

* * *

"Normal speech"

"_Animals talking. Only Lakshmi and other animals can understand this"_

_Memories, thoughts or dreams. Occasionally emphasis on words._

* * *

**Last Time**

"_So what do you want me for?" he asked finally, sighing with resignation._

"_We need more members for our team, in case anything goes wrong again. We also want to ally with neighbouring planets. We have Asgard on our side, but it's not enough," Lakshmi huffed._

"_Never did like the Asgardians. Too uptight and unfriendly," he gave a long drawn out sigh and relented. "Very well, I need a job anyway," a few bits of rafters fell out of the ceiling and onto the floor._

"_I can see that." Bruce said wryly. Lakshmi raised an eyebrow and set his coffee cup down._

"_What's the pay?" he asked slyly. He didn't care about money in the slightest, but it would be nice to have some just in case. Fury smirked at him._

"_Your pay depends on what you do. You get paid when you work. I do believe that's fair," Lakshmi shrugged. Sounded fair enough. He wasn't bothered about getting paid for doing nothing, so being paid only when he worked was a fair deal._

"_Well then, I better pack," he pushed himself off the worktop and stretched. "And get dressed." He added as an afterthought. Anubis just sniggered at him._

* * *

Chapter Two

_They're Not My Family,_

_In Your Head, In Your Head_

_They Are Fighting_

* * *

***At Avengers HQ***

Lakshmi looked around in wonder. This place was just… over the top. He knew this place used to be Stark Tower before it had become the Avengers HQ, and the owner was a little bit of a dickhead at times.

Anubis was padding next to him, illusioned to look like a Labrador once more. He hadn't wanted to walk through New York with a giant demon wolf. He had guessed people would freak a little. He was dressed in his usual attire once more. A pair of tight fitting black skinny jeans, black boots adorned with many silver buckles, a red tee and a black aviator's jacket. They were the only clothes he owned, so that was what he always wore.

Anubis kept whining. He clearly didn't like being in the presence of humans, not that Lakshmi could blame him. He didn't really care for them much either. They could talk and often tried to be friendly. This wasn't a good thing in his books, as it meant he had to socialise, which he wasn't very good at.

"Hush Anubis," Lakshmi snapped finally. "You're a wolf. Take it like one," there was an amused scoff from a doorway, and Tony Stark sidled into view. He had he perfectly trimmed goatee and some ridiculous t-shirt with some human band logo scrawled across it. You could also see the blue glow of his arc reactor through his t-shirt, which Lakshmi also found to be a show of arrogance, as though he wanted to be labelled as different on sight.

"That Labrador most certainly isn't a wolf," he looked down as Anubis who growled.

"_Hey!" _he exclaimed angrily, his hackles rising with his irritation,_ "Drop the illusion Lakshmi, I want to see this guy piss his pants_," Lakshmi wasn't really surprised. Contrary to his normal calm and kind demeanour, he knew Anubis to have an explosive temper when riled. Despite knowing this was probably a bad idea, he dropped the illusion anyway. Tony looked terrified as the antlered, winged, horse sized, black and red demon wolf growled down at him, baring sharp white fangs and deliberately scraping his long claws on the tiled floor.

"Anubis," Lakshmi warned, grabbing a handful of his fur and tugging him away from the man. "Enough. Now let's go," he narrowed his eyes at Tony ever so slightly and stalked down the corridor with Anubis at his heel.

"_Bah! I hate this! Never did like humans. Smelly violent things_," Anubis muttered, clearly pissed off.

"I don't particularly care for human either, but be nice Anubis. You never know we might find a niche here. God knows I want to get out of that shitty flat," he muttered. He saw a few of the SHIELD workers give him an odd look as he talked to Anubis, but he couldn't care less. They were humans, and their opinions meant very little to him.

The corridors were all white, and had an almost clinical feel to them, like a hospital. Lakshmi repressed a shudder. He had always despised hospitals, even back on his own planet. They brought back unwanted memories.

"_Are you alright_?" Anubis asked obvious smelling Lakshmi's discomfort. Lakshmi shook his head, but didn't answer, causing Anubis to whine.

It became apparent where they were being brought when they were ushered inside a room.

A long table dominated the room, and several people were sat around it. The room was lit with white electric lights, and again had that horrible clinical feel to it, as though the room hadn't been furnished yet.

Bruce was sat on his own near them, scribbling furiously in his notebook, seemingly unaware of their entrance. He was dressed in the same purple shirt and brown trousers.

A ginger haired woman in leather armour was sat chatting to a blonde man who was dressed casually in a pair of jeans and a plain white tee. From the brief snatches of conversation Lakshmi could hear, the woman was called Natasha and the male was called Clint.

Two large blondes were sat idly in chairs on opposite sides of the room, one had sharply cut short hair, and the other had long shaggy hair. Both were hugely muscled and blue eyed.

"Excuse me people!" Nick shouted, effectively gaining everyone's attention. Lakshmi saw Tony sidle in and silently sit in a chair. He already disliked the arrogant bastard, and narrowed his eyes at the man.

"This here is Lakshmi. He's a new member to the team, so play nice," everyone looked at Lakshmi calculatingly. Anubis chose that moment to squeeze though the doorway and nudge his shoulder.

"_Sa'ar just landed. There's been another one. Several actually. In an alley not far from here. All CCTV was down in the area again, and there's no witnesses_," he muttered in his ear. Lakshmi growled.

"Tell Sa'ar to go and collect all of my data. I need it all. Pack it up and bring in over," he whispered in the wolf's ear. Anubis nodded and turned to leave.

"What in the name of God is that?" Clint exclaimed as he looked at the wolf in terror. Anubis scoffed at him and paused in his exit.

"_You'd think he'd know a wolf when he saw one,"_ he commented idly, smirking at the flustered archer. The others looked quite terrified too, but none of them made a move. Thor however was looking at him in wonder.

"Oh now be fair Anubis. You hardly look like a wolf anymore. How was he to know?" Lakshmi said. To anyone else he would sound toneless, but after getting to know him well, Anubis heard the teasing edge to his voice.

"_Humph. You don't look like a Kaame either, but you are one," _he retorted.

"Hm, touché," he cleared his throat and looked around the room. Everyone was looking at him in some concern, as he was having a seemingly normal conversation in English with a wolf that appearing to yip and bark at him. He just raised an eyebrow and ignored them.

"_Do you want me to go and tell Sa'ar now?"_ Anubis asked. Lakshmi shook his head and offered no further explanation, bar a sideways glance that said 'later'. Lakshmi gave a short bow to everyone in the room.

"As the Director has already said, my name is Lakshmi. I am a Kaame, but I differ very little to you humans in the area of biological mae up and physical appearance, so there is nothing out of the odiany to expect with me at the moment," he was clearly leaving something out with 'at the moment', but he moved on quickly before anyone could comment. "This here is Anubis, and don't worry; he is little more than an earth wolf. He's just a little... mutated," Lakshmi said in his usual toneless drawl, like he had more important things to be doing than socialising. In fairness, he did. He had a mass murderer to track down, and he had to talk to Sa'ar.

"You are a Kaame?" the wild haired blonde asked incredulously. Lakshmi stared at him, eyes narrowed. He caught a whiff of his scent as he shifted. An Asgardian.

"Yes. Is that so hard to believe? We were plentiful once upon a time. Surely there must be others still out there?" Lakshmi felt his gut clench in dread as the man's face went cold and sad.

"No. We thought them extinct. I am surprised to see you. You're _the _great Lakshmi, aren't you?" Lakshmi nodded numbly. He knew his kind was bound to be rare after the loss of their planet, but he never thought there would be none left. "I'm honoured to meet you. Your adventures of stuff of legend, even to us Asgardians." Lakshmi looked at him oddly. He had never been spoken of kindly in his life, except by his mate, and he found the blonde's kindness disconcerting. He brushed it off and turned to Fury.

"Where's my room?" he was blunt and straight to the point, but frankly, he felt he had filled his 'human interaction' quota for the day, and he wanted to relax in solitude for a while. Fury looked a little irritated he hadn't gotten off to a great start with the Avengers, but judging by his expression, he wasn't really that surprised. He summoned some nameless soldier and ordered them to guide Lakshmi to his sleeping quarters. Lakshmi followed with a bored expression. He needed to learn this place as soon as possible; being guided everywhere meant he had to spend time with people, and he wasn't exactly happy with this idea.

His room was exquisitely decorated, but anything less wouldn't do in the home of Tony Stark he was sure.

The walls were painted a nice neutral yellowy cream, with a slightly paler thick carpet underfoot. A large bed with silk black sheets ran down the centre of the room with sturdy wooden bed side tables on either side. A door was tucked in a far corner, leading to an equally pristine bathroom. But what he liked most was the large balcony and huge windows he had been given.

Anubis gave a yip of delight and immediately ran outside onto the balcony to perch himself on the railings. Lakshmi slammed the door in his guide's face without a word and went to stand next to his companion outside.

He had to admit it felt good to have wind on his face after an hour inside; they usually spent the whole day outside, and wind got into their apartment, so they were never truly away from the open air for extended periods of time.

"What have I dragged us into 'Nubis?" he groaned, massaging his face with his palms. Anubis looked down at him from his perch on the railings and licked the top of his head, rumpling the man's long hair and earning a growl from the owner.

"_Relax_ _Lakshmi. This isn't your fault; we were hardly given much of a choice. This might even be good; I mean we have access to better forms of research and better technology. You're a genius Lakshmi, this place is like a playground for you_," Lakshmi smirked at how well Anubis knew him. He'd been itching to get in the labs of this place since he'd arrived in the city.

A low caw got his attention, and the biggest raven in the world landed on their railing. Only this wasn't really a raven. It was the size of a Great Dane, and its breast feathers were snow white, with a strip of red where the black met the white. A large crest grew atop its head; it flared up slightly at the back of the head, and grew down to form a point near its beak. The beak was long and jet black, curving slightly at the end in a viciously sharp point. This was a Harros. The universe's messengers.

The Harros flared its wings and tipped its body forward; tilting its head into what was unmistakably a bow.

"Ah, Sa'ar. News I presume?" Lakshmi asked politely; it never did any good to piss a Harros off. They were notoriously good at learning people's secrets. Which is why Lakshmi kept this particular Harros close. He was the sneakiest little shit he'd ever had the pleasure of meeting. Sa'ar nodded.

"_Yes. A young human female was found dead in an alley this morn' not far from here. Whatever killed her sliced her from head to toe again,"_ the Harros got a rather joyful glint in his eyes. He was known for his rather psychotic sense of humour. Lakshmi sighed, bored. These murders were old news now, and he had trouble riling up any interest as they failed to find any new leads. "_And I found a claw,_" this little nugget of fact caught Lakshmi's attention as Sa'ar pulled a long claw out of his breast feathers.

"_You can store stuff in there?"_ Anubis asked curiously, moving forward as though to poke his nose into the dense mass of feathers.

"_Try what you're thinking and I'll scratch your eyes out and force you to eat them,"_ Sa'ar warned. Anubis drew his head back sharpish with a terrified little yipping bark. Lakshmi ignored them as he ran his finger along the length of the claw.

"I've seen a claw like this before," he muttered and sniffed the base. "Let's just hope my suspicions are wrong," he flicked his tongue out and tasted the tip of the claw. He immediately wrinkled his nose in distaste.

"Whatever it is, it has poison in the claws. Enough to kill a human stone dead in an hour with a single scratch. This thing takes a swipe at you, you better start praying like hell, because you're on your deathbed," the wolf and the Harros looked at each other fearfully. Lakshmi saw this rolled his eyes irritably at the look of psychotic joy beginning to steal over Sa'ar's features at the idea of having this weapon at his disposal. "If it's any comfort, Anubis you're safe. The poison won't affect you." Sa'ar looked a little pissed, but Anubis looked curious.

"_Why?"_

"This poison attacks your DNA and literally tears it apart. A nasty, painful death. If by a miracle you survive there are likely to be side effects. Your DNA had already been mutated, as my blood is also potent in this poison, although in the form of my blood it is stable. It rearranges DNA and adds DNA from the outside world to merge in harmlessly with your own. Since you have a similar poison in your veins, as do I, we are immune from death. I still wouldn't advise getting scratched though; the agony is still near unbearable," Lakshmi's eyes clouded momentarily with a past pain before he shook himself and turned to Sa'ar. "As this is just a theory as to who our killer is, I need a blood sample and my things from my flat."

"_I'll go get your things with the pigeon,"_ Anubis teased, flaring his wings and launching himself off the balcony. Sa'ar flapped after him with an angry caw of;

"_Not a pigeon!" _Lakshmi shook his head. Looks like it was up to him to get the blood.

* * *

***Training Field Next Day***

Lakshmi was leaning casually on a railing of the gallery that looked down on the training pit, only half watching the Avengers training below, a cigarette clamped firmly between his teeth. To be fair, it was an illusioned cigarette, but it was the only way he'd been able to get himself off the real ones. At least he wasn't killing himself this way. Anubis was down in the training pit with the humans, training away like the faithful little soldier he was. Lakshmi however had blatantly refused to 'act like a circus monkey' as he'd phrased it, not wanting to show them how powerful he truly was.

Sa'ar was perched next to him on the railing, watching the fighting with a mild interest. He was true to his sly deceitful nature, and Lakshmi respected this, and always made sure to keep on the bird's good side as he knew how to pick at something until it was raw and bleeding.

He was doing it now; watching the Avengers train, picking up their faults and their flaws, watching for any weakness he might be able to exploit at a later date.

Clint was training at the archery area, shooting at the various targets that flew through the air.

Natasha and Bruce were practicing some hand to hand combat. Despite his weedy stature, Bruce was putting up a fair fight and Natasha actually looked a little out of breath.

Tony was mysteriously absent as he didn't do teamwork, and was currently off analysing the blood sample Lakshmi had managed (with some difficulty) to acquire the previous night.

Steve, Thor and Anubis were wrestling in the centre of the field, and everyone else was giving them a wide berth. Lakshmi toyed briefly with the thought of practicing with the sword or his dagger for a while but eventually decided against it. It wouldn't do well to reveal any of his mpre obscure talents in case he ever had to fight his way out of the building. It wasn't as though any one had ever kept their word to him in the long run, and he was too old to start trusting now.

"_You know, they aren't bad people," _Sa'ar said conversationally. Lakshmi snorted.

"There's such thing as _good_ people?" he asked sarcastically. Sa'ar tilted his head slightly.

"_What about Akella?" _Sa'ar returned. Lakshmi's face immediately turned stony, well stonier than usual, and Sa'ar knew immediately to drop the subject and move on swiftly. _"I mean, Anubis has told me a lot, and from what I've seen they're good people. I've never been wrong about a person yet, and I don't intend to break my two millennia streak now. Give them a go. Who knows, maybe you'll like them," _his voice didn't hold much hope however. Lakshmi didn't take well to new people.

"Whatever Sa'ar. Century and they're all dead, and I'm on my own and grieving again. Not worth the pain," he said bluntly, closing off any opening for the conversation to be breached again. Sa'ar gave a weary sigh.

"_You know what? Fuck it. I'm off. You can be miserable on your own. I'm going before any of them see me. Have fun being a miserable shit," _Sa'ar snapped short temperedly. After he heard Lakshmi mutter something that sounded mysteriously like 'man period' he gave an angry shriek and flew off out the open window. Thor, Steve and Anubis all paused to look at where the sound had issued from, but all they saw was Lakshmi standing alone smoking in the gallery as Sa'ar had already gone with a flap of wing beats.

"Master Of Illusion!" Thor called, waving to Lakshmi. Lakshmi responded by turning his eyes in his direction and raising an eyebrow slightly.

Thor was completely topless, and Lakshmi had to admit privately to himself, he looked good. Complete six-pack and bulging biceps that with his stronger than human vision were clearly definable even at the distance he was at. With his long blonde hair sweat plastered and sticking up at odd angles, he looked rather ruggedly handsome.

Ignoring these rather appreciative thoughts, he denied himself the pleasure at drooling over Thor's gorgeous body and completely turned his head to them.

"Come and train with us! You could do with some muscle on that tiny frame of yours!" Thor shouted over the general clamour of people training. Lakshmi bristled slightly at this. Just because he was small didn't mean he was weak!

His pride wounded, he hopped over the gallery railing and landed like a cat in the training pit, ignoring the gasps of him landing uninjured and not even bothered at the two story drop.

"I could still beat you fair and square. No illusions," he said quietly, but his voice still rang with an unmatchable authority that he could probable make Fury cringe with. Thor boomed a laugh.

"I consider that a challenge!" he said arrogantly. "Let's see what you can do," Lakshmi's eyes had a slight glitter to them, as though he was smiling even if his face didn't break its stoic mask. He removed his black tee and tossed it to Anubis who caught it and quick ushered Steve out of the way. He watched with mild amusement as Thor's eyes raked his scarred torso with something akin to lust and fell into a crouching stance.

He was wearing a loose pair of baggy jeans so he would be able to get some high kicks in and he was much lighter than Thor so he would be much quicker. He would play defence until he got a lock on Thor's fighting style.

The fist blow was an obvious one, and Lakshmi block the right hook with ease, and the obvious back fist that followed, countering with a hard shove with his shoulder to Thor's stomach causing the man to stumble back. He had clearly underestimated Lakshmi's abilities, as his face set determinately and he rushed forward with a renewed vigour and a surprising amount of grace for his large stature.

The fighting got rough from there on out. They fought dirty, but neither seemed to be able to get the upper hand. Everyone else had stopped to watch now, and there were cheers from the gallery as nameless SHIELD grunts egged them on.

Both men were now dirty and shiny with sweat, panting heavily but not backing down. They would most likely be sore next day, and Lakshmi had cut his knuckles open when he'd punched Thor in the mouth, and his hand was crimson with blood.

"ENOUGH!" both men froze and turned to look sheepishly at an entering Nick Fury, who'd taken interest at the commotion buzzing around the training room and come to check it out. "This was supposed to be a team training exercise. What I didn't want was for you two to start a fight over who's the alpha. Do that some other time, elsewhere where it's not my problem. Thor looked guilty, but Lakshmi continued to look unreadable. Nick couldn't tell if the man had even heard him.

Without a word, Lakshmi bowed respectfully to Thor in a fit of ingrained Kaame tradition, and walked from the training room without a word to the other Avengers. He felt quite bad for hurting Thor, which was weird. Normally he never even felt guilty when he killed someone, why did he feel bad now after only roughing the man up a bit? But every time he tried to ignore the guilt gnawing at him, an image of Thor's cute puppy smile swam into view and the guilt came back with a new vengeance.

Maybe he'd apologise tomorrow. Perhaps that would get rid of this horrible dead weight in his gut. Guilt was a foreign concept to him, and he didn't very much like it. God damn it! He'd only known these people for a day, and he was already starting to like them! He was starting to go soft in his old age.

* * *

***Break Room In Avengers HQ next day***

Clint gave a loud yawn as he poured himself a coffee. Not much had happened since the previous day. Not long after the incident in the training room, the new comer, Lakshmi, had holed himself up in his room, and had yet to surface. As far as they knew anyway. Natasha had left off on a mission, and Tony and Bruce were still down in the lab doing science. Thor had been telling him and Steve some of the tales of Lakshmi's adventures. He was still at it now, and Steve was still listening with rapt attention. Anubis was rummaging through the fridge like a human, a fact Clint found quite disturbing. Despite the fact the demon wolf couldn't speak a word of English, he acted and responded like a human. It was weird.

"Oi! Out of the fridge wolfie!" Clint called moving forward to bat him away. Anubis paused, brought his head out of the fridge, and turned to look at him. If a wolf could look exasperated, Anubis had taken the cake. His eye brows- were they eyebrows? Eye ridges? Whatever they were called- were raised and his eyes were half open as If to say, _really? You really just said that? Twat._ Clint looked completely abashed, as the wolf grabbed a packet of sausages in his mouth, kicked the fridge door shut with a hind leg, and trotted off to eat his prize in the corner.

"Ha, you'd do better to not insult Anubis, Archer. If he travels with the Illusion Master he must be an intelligent beast," Anubis looked at him. He really did have an expressive face. Now it said; _I can't decide whether to be offended you called me a beast, or praised you said I was intelligent._ The wolf frowned and he narrowed his eyes at Thor and his expression changed to;_ This changes nothing. _Clint snorted at his face and moved back to his already poured coffee. Thor turned back to Steve. "Now, as I was saying-" he was interrupted by a low groan.

A very bloody Lakshmi swung into view from the doorway and hobbled over to the table. He flopped down in a char and peeled his tee over his head and tossed the blood soaked garment into a bin. A huge four clawed gash was visible on his belly, and it was bleeding profusely.

"_Holy shit! What in the name of god happened to you?" _Anubis asked, rushing forward to lick the wound clean. Lakshmi grunted as the sand paper tongue ran over sore skin. His head was lolled back and his eyes were unfocused.

"Jesus Christ!" Steve cursed, pulling himself out of his chair and batting Anubis's head away. Anubis growled slightly and resumed his task of licking away the blood off his master's stomach.

"I had a run in with my theory. Turns out I was right. This is bad 'Nubis." he words started to slur slightly and he wound his hands into the fur at the sides of Anubis's face, flopping his head forward to look into the wolfs eyes.

"What? What are you talking about Lakshmi?" Steve asked, grabbing the Kaame's shoulders to get his attention. Lakshmi seemed to see him for the first time and his red eyes roved over the super soldier.

"A Jageia. An alien, a violent one. I've been tracking the thing for months, and the damned thing finds me," he let loose a stream of curses in a language Steve did not recognise. He then made the super soldier jump by removing one hand from Anubis and grabbing the sleeve of his jacket, yanking him down with surprising strength so he was an eye level with the bleeding man. A red stain began seeping into Steve's jacket where the hand was holding his sleeve.

"Listen to me, Man Out Of Time," he said rapidly, "you need to tell Fury. Tell all of the Avengers. Gather everyone you can. These things are deadly. That was just a scout. More will come. They will destroy you planet like they did mine," Steve looked in horror at the man. He was shiny with sweat. His chest seemed to be stained permanently crimson as the blood continued to pour, despite Anubis's attempt to clean him up.

He vaguely registered Thor and Clint pressing gauze to the wound in an attempt to staunch the bleeding. Anubis was pacing, whining as his efforts to help resulted in him being pushed away. He snapped and growled, his vicious temper battling with his desire to help his friend.

Most of his attention was focused to the man in front of him. This man had the haunted eyes of battle, haunted and pained, as though the slightest dig at him would shatter his psyche into a million pieces. His cold attitude was just a shield to protect himself for the outside world. Steve nodded.

"What can we do?" he asked quietly. Lakshmi began to speak but his words were cut short as a violent spasm ripped though his body and a scream tore free from his throat. He thrashed for a few moments before he slumped back in his chair, panting, pupils blown wide in agony.

"These things... need nothing more... than to kill," he panted, each word seemed forced.

"Do not try to talk, Illusions Master," Thor said in concern, placing a huge palm on Lakshmi's thigh. The Kaame eyed the god with an emotion Steve couldn't quite place. "Save your strength," Clint stood up,

"I'm going to go get a medic," he said worriedly, tearing from the room.

The hand that had vacated Steve's sleeve during the spasm retuned and Lakshmi looked at Steve once more.

"These creature's won't stop 'till ev'one's dead," he words had begun to slur quite alarmingly, and his eyelids had fallen half mast. "We 'av 't' s'op 'em," the man let out another low groan and his head rolled back over the back of the chair. His breathing shallowed and both Thor and Steve looked at each other in terror. The man looked on the brink of death. His illusions seemed to stir restlessly, tendrils of black smoke snaking around his feet, and shadows changing it the shapes of horned beasts, whipping tails and dragon wings.

Anubis shuffled from paw to paw nervously. His master was in danger, and was clinging onto life hair a hairs breadth. He knew he wouldn't die. He was a wolf, he could sense death when it approached, but something put him on edge. He cowed slightly as the illusions began to form. His master was scared, and his was lashing out with his mind in a bid to protect his unconscious body. They weren't strong illusions, but they were enough to show any predator or petty thug that he wasn't worth the bother of attacking. He knew that even in this state the man's mind was still a formidable thing, still capable of driving a man to insanity, but like this he had no control over who he hurt.

"We must get him to a healing room," Thor said nervously, scooping the long haired man's body up in his arms. Lakshmi tensed and the smoke grabbed at Thor's ankles. Anubis saw this and immediately rushed forward to nuzzle the man's face.

"_It's alright. Thor wants to help,"_ he purred in what he hoped would be a soothing tone. It seemed to work, as Lakshmi's boy relaxed and his breathing eased slightly. He began to murmur in his sleep and inadvertently buried his face in Thor's wide chest. This god seemed surprised, but smiled softly, following Steve out in a swift walk, Anubis trailing at his heels, every so often nuzzling his master for comfort.

* * *

**Authors note**

Ok, so this chapter was longer. This is because the last chapter was mainly just for setting up the story and getting the ball rolling a little bit. Ok, so i decided to Upload early as i had no review and my view count was going down. Oh well, I should hopefully get some reviews this time.


	3. We Were The Victims Of Ourselves

**Summary: **When an unlikely trio are called upon to join the Avengers, they bring with them news of an upcoming war on earth. Lakshmi leads this group, born with the ability to create illusion with his mind. Unfortunately the only one who seems to be able to get close to him is the resident God Of Thunder. Is thunder the only way to shatter the ice around his heart? Set post Avengers ThorxOC

**Warnings: **Swearing, violence, blood and sexual references (Everything that comes out of Tony Stark's mouth) Rated M because I like to swear. A lot.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the Avengers or any of the Marvel characters. Although we all wish we did. Because I would have all of the male Avengers in my basement as my sex slaves :)

**Started:** 6/6/12

**Challenge: **If you can tell me the title of the song I use for each chapter title in a review and the name of the artist, I will send you a snippet of the next chapter, the size of the snippet varying in length depending on how impressed I am with your review. This doesn't mean you start ass-kissing, constructive criticism is highly encouraged as it means my stories get better and I improve as a writer. Flames will be laughed at and I will use them to keep warm at night. YOU HAVE BEEN TOLD!

**Reviews:**

moose2247 - thank you for my first review little biscuit, and I'm glad you're enjoying it

rEdRoSeSiNaUgUsT - I'll try to update as often as I can, but reviews always feed my muse so thank you, and I'm glad somebody likes my work!

* * *

"Normal speech"

"_Animals talking. Only Lakshmi and other animals can understand this"_

_Memories, thoughts or dreams. Occasionally emphasis on words._

* * *

**Last Time**

"_We must get him to a healing room," Thor said nervously, scooping the long haired man's body up in his arms. Lakshmi tensed and the smoke grabbed at Thor's ankles. Anubis saw this and immediately rushed forward to nuzzle the man's face._

"_**It's alright. Thor wants to help,**__" he purred in what he hoped would be a soothing tone. It seemed to work, as Lakshmi's boy relaxed and his breathing eased slightly. He began to murmur in his sleep and inadvertently buried his face in Thor's wide chest. This god seemed surprised, but smiled softly, following Steve out in a swift walk, Anubis trailing at his heels, every so often nuzzling his master for comfort._

* * *

**Chapter Three**

_We Were The Victims Of Ourselves_

* * *

***Medical Room In Avengers HQ***

_Rain lashed down of his body as he scrambled though the mud. The mud was knee deep and full of corpses and body parts. The battle that had raged around him but a few hours before had burnt its self out, the remaining soldiers on both sides either dead, too injured or already fled to continue fighting._

_Lakshmi was running desperately though no man's land, trying to find the body of his mate. They had to be somewhere. He followed his nose and pushed on through the mud._

"_Going somewhere, Freak?" Lakshmi froze and whipped around. A Jageia was towering over him._

_The creature had a roughly canine build, but he had two sets of legs at the front of his body and only one set at the back. Even with a thick covering of mud all over, wickedly sharp claws were visible, and huge sabre teeth protruded from a flat feline face. The creature had no ears, but a ridge of razor sharp spines started at the base of his skull, travelling all the way down the creatures spine, ending where his spine tapered down into a set of three tails, all of which were whipping around like cat who'd found a new mouse to play with. The fur was a deep midnight black with purple markings and glowing purple eyes._

"_Yes, and I don't need you here so shoo." Lakshmi spat tersely, glaring up that the creature that easily stood ten foot tall. _

"_Such __**fight**__! I'm going to enjoy killing you," the creature snarled, it's horrible face lowering to a level with his, so he could bare his massive teeth at the terrified Kaame. Its breath stank of blood and rotting meat, and Lakshmi had to repress a gag._

_Instead he let his illusion lash out at the Jageia. A sword materialised out of the air and rammed down the creatures throat, causing it to scream in agony and tear at its throat as a thousand crawling scorpions joined the sword, eating though its body and eating him from the inside out. The Jageia let out a pained howl that hung in the air of no man's land with a ghostly quality. He sliced his throat to ribbons in an attempt to get at the steel sword lodged firmly in his throat. It let out a gurgle and fell down into the mud. This illusions faded and the Jageia was left sword less and free of scorpions, its blood draining out into the mud._

"_You will all __**fail!**__" It spat furiously, blood pouring out of his mouth as he attempted speech. "You filthy creatures will all die. The plan is already set in motion, and soon your planet will __**burn!**__" the Jageia let out an insane laugh that trailed out into a gurgle, then... nothing. The purple eyes glazed over, and Lakshmi was looking down at his first kill outside the heat of war. He felt he must have had ice in his heart to do this. He looked down at his blood soaked hands in horror. He couldn't do this. He had to flee; he could feel his mind beginning to fall apart. He was a danger, he needed to remove himself. He had to run, but to where?_

_His body was burning as he fell though the new planet's atmosphere. He had been travelling for eons, travelling from one planet to the next, but as he entered this planet, his wreck of a ship had begun to burn up in the atmosphere, and he had fell, burning, screaming in agony._

"Lakshmi! Awake!" the illusions master awoke with a terrified sob. He half registered the tears plastering his face as he buried his face into the chest of whoever was shaking him. The body was warm and firm, and smelt of ozone and wind. He clutched at the persons chest and began to sob with abandon.

The man, as it turns out, was none other than Thor, who was looking down at the man sobbing into his shirt. He patted his back awkwardly and rubbed soothing circles into his back. The medical room was silent, dark, and empty except for Lakshmi and Thor. A small puddle of light cast from a lamp on Lakshmi's bedside table was the only source of light in the room, and it cast dark shadows.

"Relax. Nothing will hurt you here," Thor said gently, resting his chin on Lakshmi's head and wrapping his arms around the man's tiny body. Lakshmi continued to sob for several more minutes before his sobs faded into small hiccups and sniffs. He made no effort to remove Thor's arms however, as he was seeking comfort in another person's arms.

He thought wryly this was the first proper contact he'd had in many years. He'd not had a relationship since his mate had died; often partaking in one night stands to stave off the oppressing loneliness. He could still remember finding his body in pieces on that meadow. It still haunted him to this day. His beautiful mate.

He could also remember his father throwing him bodily from the house after announcing his new found mate was male. The horror and disgust on his mother's face. The undiluted rage on his father's. It scarred him deeply still. Yet he never stopped loving his mate. He was his light, and he still loved him, if only in memory now.

"Are you alright?" Thor asked gently. Lakshmi smiled as the vibrations sent relaxing shivers down his body. He gave a short nod and Thor pulled back slightly, although he still rested his hands on Lakshmi's shoulders as the man wiped the tears off his face. Lakshmi gave a hiccup and looked up sheepishly at Thor.

"Yes," he muttered timidly, embarrassed about his breakdown. "Sorry. I can normally hold it in," his gave another small hiccup, and a coughing laugh as he rubbed his eyes with his knuckles.

"Nonsense," Thor declared. "It's bad to keep tears bottled up like that. We were given the ability to cry to help lessen our pains. We shouldn't squander the gifts we are given," Lakshmi blinked up at him owlishly. He had cried like this, many times before, but always on his own, in a dark room where no one could see his weakness.

"Sorry," he muttered again, looking down at his hands. He envisioned tendrils of lightning around his fingers and began to play with the electricity aimlessly. Thor watched him in fascination. Sensing he was being watched, he looked up; surprised Thor had yet to storm from the room in disgust of him.

He certainly was an unusual one. Lakshmi actually felt inclined to be in his presence, much different to his usual hatred of any form of company. He looked at the beaming face to the thunder god. He wanted to puzzle this man out. He was so different to any of the humans here, even different to the other Asgardians he had met. They had all been so uptight, arrogant, and unfriendly even. Thor seemed none of these things. It was odd. He didn't like forming any sort of connection with anyone in fear it be torn away again. He'd had his heart shattered to many times to risk handing it over to someone else again.

Thor released his hold on his shoulders and grasped his hands instead, holding the writhing appendages still. Lakshmi looked surprised.

"You can go now, if you want." Thor looked at him in confusion.

"Leave? Why would I leave? You clearly need some company," Thor said, patting Lakshmi's shoulder and sitting next to him, slinging one of his huge arms around his shoulders. Lakshmi shifted awkwardly as Thor snuggled in next to him. Lakshmi frowned and closed his eyes, letting Thor's body heat lull him into a dreamless sleep.

* * *

***Next Morning***

Lakshmi snuffled sleepily. He was really warm, and he was sleeping on something soft and warm. And breathing. At first he assumed it was Anubis, but then he realised it was furless. His ruby eyes snapped open and he was greeted with the vast expanse of Thor's chest. Their chests were pressed together and Thor had wrapped his massive arms around his body, cuddling him to his vast his chest.

"_Morning. Comfy?"_ Lakshmi turned his head as best he could without waking Thor to see Sa'ar perched at the bottom of the best, smirking at him. Thor grunted in his sleep and nuzzled the top of his head.

"Go away Sa'ar, now's not the time," Lakshmi hissed as quietly as he could. Sa'ar chuckled and hopped onto Lakshmi's leg.

"_I feel jealous. He's __**gorgeous**__," _Sa'ar teased, his black eyes glittering. His tail feathers brushed Thor's leg and the man gave a loud grunt and pulled Lakshmi closer. Lakshmi blinked in surprise, earning another low chuckle from Sa'ar. Lakshmi frowned and slipped out of Thor's grasp, using his illusion to make Thor believe he was still wrapped in his arms even as the man's body fell slack against the bed. Bundling Sa'ar into his arms he slid silently out of the ward.

He ran like a shadow through the halls, masking himself in an illusion of invisibility and silence.

As he passed the break room, he heard voices and the sound of his name. He peered around the door, Sa'ar squawking in protest as he inadvertently squished him against the door frame.

"That Lakshmi's certainly an interesting character. Do you think we can trust him?" Stark asked. He spoke in his usual cocky, self righteous tone that made Lakshmi's lip curl and remind him almost painfully of his father.

"Yes," a man said firmly. "He seems an honest character. He's just a little cold hearted. We need to give him a chance," ah, that was the kindly super soldier, Steve.

"He does seem nice enough. I would love to study him scientifically though. I would love to see the genetic makeup of an alien up close. Thor won't let me get anything off him," that was the scientist, Banner. He sounded almost sulky as he talked of Thor, and Lakshmi had to retain a smirk. He sounded like a petulant child denied sweets.

"He certainly has a high pain tolerance," Clint said quietly. "The doctors told me his blood was swimming with poison. He must have been in unbearable agony," he heard Natasha make a noise of respect. He had clearly gained the spy's respect and admiration with his survival.

"Thor has most defiantly taken a liking to him," Tony said, the smirk colouring his tone. Lakshmi felt a growl build in his throat.

"Tony," Steve said warningly.

"He reminds Thor of his brother, I think," Bruce said wisely. "He feels the same protective streak and he was never one to give up on someone who needs help," Natasha snorted.

"He hardly needs help. He's one of the toughest fighters I've ever seen," Steve sighed at the stoic spy's obliviousness to human emotion.

"Physically he's strong, but psychologically he's a wreck. I've seen those eyes before. Soldiers who've seen one too many battles. I think we should try to get to know him better. He doesn't trust easily, but we have to try right? He's part of our team now," there was a general murmur of agreement, and Lakshmi decided to take his leave.

He passed no one in the halls as he snuck up to his room. Slipping inside, he threw the now very ruffled Sa'ar onto his bed, shut the door and leaned heavily on it. He held his face in his palms and slid down the door. He tucked his knees up to his body and pressed his eyes shut. He hated this. Being around people again was bringing out all his old insecurities.

He had always been an outcast. He had been thrown from his own home by his parents when they found out he was attracted to his own gender. He had been isolated by the children he had grown up with, and subsequently by the adults he lived with, with what he could do with illusions. Psychic abilities were not uncommon or unheard of in his species, but to have them at his level or magnitude was freakish.

The children used to throw rocks at him and through his window and call him a freak. He was always in trouble when his powers lashed out when he was attacked, cornered or scared, leading to a very fractured and abusive relationship with his parents. It didn't help his younger brother was perfect in every way. He was handsome, married a beautiful woman, and had no freakish powers.

Lakshmi was none of those things. People had often said he was handsome, but he never thought he was. The only nice thing on his body, in his opinion, was his eyes. They reminded him of blazing red sunsets, or fresh blood. He had grown his hair long in order to hide his body. Whenever he grew uncomfortable or frightened, he hid his face in his hair. He still did to this day.

He had done all he could to dissuade people from approaching him from a very early age. He dressed differently, to make him seem odd. His hair helped in this respect too. He became cold and distant, brushing off any and all interaction as best he could. He glared at people; he red eyes making him seem demented, or evil. Very few people ever broke though his wall.

Yet he had come here, and these people were already starting to worm their way into his heart. He hated it. Soon they would find out what a freak he was and cast him aside like a broken toy.

"_Lakshmi?"_ Anubis was walking over to him nervously; Lakshmi could hear his claws tugging at the fibres of the carpet. Yet he made no effort to raise his head or look at the wolf. He growled, signifying he wanted to be alone. There was silence, and Anubis nuzzled at his face. He lunged out at the wolf, striking him across the muzzle.

Anubis stumbled back, eyes wide in terror. He had never seen Lakshmi lose control like this. He knew the man had led a fractured life, but he hadn't known how badly it had affected him until now. Tears streamed down his face, angry and scared and Anubis let his instincts kick in. He ran. His master had the look of a cornered animal about him, and Anubis knew better than to hang around. He would disappear for a few days, and come back later when Lakshmi had gotten a hold of himself

He ran out the open balcony window, Sa'ar following swiftly behind him.

Lakshmi watched him go, terrible guilt clawing at his belly. He fell back against the door again and curled up into a ball, rocking soothingly back and forth.

He stayed in that position, curled up against the door, for several hours, crying away his pain. He hated this. He was supposed to be strong, wise and cold hearted. He wanted the ice to freeze his heart and bar all emotions. He felt it building on him every time he killed. Yet it never did. It always started to melt. He still felt the pain off his loss, and the guilt of his kills.

After he had cried himself out, he got up shakily, his limbs still shaking from their recent spasms and lack of use. Looking out the window he saw a blazing sunset. How long had he been out? Just that day, or several? He had no idea.

He looked to the map pinned to his wall, and the small pile of newspaper articles. Many more dots had been added to the map since he'd last seen it, and he was grateful for his companions bringing it from the flat. Another pang of guilt stabbed at his gut.

His sketch book was also present. It was sat innocently on his bedside table, yet Lakshmi knew better than to look in it unless he wanted to break down in tears again. Most of the drawings were of his old home, and various planets he had visited. It held to many memories to view in his current fractured state.

He looked at the map, frowned, and grabbed a large tub of purple paint. Wrenching the lid off, he dipped his finger in and placed a large dot where he'd been attacked, but the paint pot down and stepped back and looked for a pattern.

The dots were random, clustering ever so slightly in certain laces, yet with no link between the places. There were no links, no pattern. It was almost as though the killer had no real motive other than to kill.

Realisation hit him like a speeding train. Of course there was no pattern. There was no motive. But he thought he knew a link. He ran to his bag, rummaged around inside for a moment, then pulled out a huge sheet of clear plastic. He placed it over the map, grabbed a red marker pen and searched for a laptop.

* * *

***Avenger's break room. Two days later***

Thor looked down at his breakfast miserably. He had fallen asleep with Lakshmi asleep in his arms like a dream come true. He had awoken to a cold bed, and a missing Lakshmi.

Apparently he had locked himself in his room and no one had yet even attempted to coax him out. They all thought him asleep and recovering, and had dissuaded Thor from knocking on his door and asking if he was alright. Tony had suggested the man had climbed out the window and flown away on Anubis, until Natasha pointed out that not only was Lakshmi severely injured and unable to fly, but also that Anubis was missing, and had been seen flying away from the building alone several days before

The arrogant billionaire didn't seem to like Lakshmi much, but everyone else had certainly warmed to him. Or rather, they tolerated his presence. He was quiet, kept himself to himself, and they had hardly heard hide nor hair of him since his arrival.

Thor stood up abruptly and headed to the door. He was going to see Lakshmi whether the others liked it or not.

"Where are you going?" Tony asked rudely. Thor frowned at him.

"I am going to visit the Illusion Master. It has been two days and he is yet to remove himself from his room. I am worried for his well being." he thought a moment, and grabbed his untouched breakfast plate. At least someone could eat it. Apparently they didn't like wasting food on Midgard. Steve stood up with his usual boyish smile.

"I'll come with you," Natasha and Clint looked up from their conversation ever so briefly, before deciding against joining. Bruce had yet to awake, and Tony seemed severely disinterested. Steve and Thor shrugged and left the room.

Lakshmi's room was on the same floor as all the other Avengers, right next to Thor's at the very end of the hall. Thor banged on the door loudly.

"Are you in there?" he boomed, mentally crossing his fingers. There was a moment's pause and the door slid open.

In a work, Lakshmi looked like shit. He was wearing nothing but his boxers, and hair was unkempt, wild and greasy. He looked like he had lost a bit of weight, and the bandages around his injured stomach were heavily bloodstained and smelt. He was stood by a huge map pinned to the wall. A thin sheet of clear plastic had been pinned to it, and he was drawing numerous red dots all over it, every now and again glancing at a stream of data coming in off a small laptop near him.

"Christ Lakshmi!" Steve cursed, running up and putting a hand on the man's shoulder. The man looked at them. He had dark purple shadows under his eyes and a shadow of stubble over his lower face. "Have you bathed, eaten or slept in the past few days?" Lakshmi seemed to think for a moment, and then shook his head in the negative. Thor growled in displeasure of the man's treatment of himself and pressed the plate of food towards him.

"And... what is this?" Lakshmi asked suspiciously, looking warily at the god of thunder.

"Sustenance," Thor said bluntly, gesturing to Lakshmi's hollowed stomach and exposed ribs. "You clearly need it," Lakshmi turned away with a sniff.

"I'm _fine,_" he pressed the word, glaring at Steve and Thor. Thor raised an eye brow and pressed the food at him again. Lakshmi sighed and ungraciously accepted the food, and began to eat wolfishly.

The whole plate was gone in a matter of minutes, and Lakshmi carelessly tossed the plate on his desk on top of a pile of paper. He repressed a belch and looked sulkily at Thor.

"Happy?" Thor crossed his arms, irritated.

"More so if you bathe, shave and sleep," Lakshmi yawned and shrugged.

"I'm used to staying up without food water or sleep for days at a time. At least this time I'm not tied to a tree with people throwing shit at me," he said it so carelessly; Thor almost missed the deep insight into Lakshmi's old life. Almost.

"What?" Thor asked incredulously. Lakshmi shrugged, and then returned to his work.

"Meh. I'm a freak. My fellow Kaame used to punish me on a regular basis for this. It wasn't exactly legal, but no one was particularly bothered about finding me if I went missing. My parents certainly never reported me missing in hope I wouldn't come back," Thor and Steve were both horrified in equal measure.

"You what?" Steve exclaimed, disgusted in how casually Lakshmi said this. "Your parents didn't care? What kind of sick, twisted-"

"My father was a drunk, my mother was a sick twisted bitch who shunned me from day one and gave my 'perfect' brother everything, whilst I had nothing," Lakshmi spat, ignoring the shocked faces of the two soldiers. "I slept in the shed on a regular basis! I had a crap childhood, so I forged myself a new life away from the shit hole I grew up in. Unfortunately, that fell to shit when the residents of the town found out what a freaky little fucker I was. They burned down my fucking house and chased me away!" Lakshmi was panting angrily now, glaring at the two stunned blonde men. "I could never cut a fucking break! I returned to my family house in shame, but I was tossed out a few months later when I brought my mate over! He was a fucking male! My parents were disgusted and horrified! My father was furious! He went batshit and beat me to an inch of my life, and would have died if my mate hadn't saved me! I left with him, happy for the first time in my life, but no, I'm not allowed happiness, am I? My mate was killed in the war, and I had officially lost everything! Can you see now, why I am like I am? I don't _care_ if I die! I don't _care _if I damage my body! I've lost so much I have barely anything left to lose!"

Lakshmi looked at Steve and Thor defiantly, waiting for them to scorn him in disgust. Imagine his surprise when Thor rushed forward and pulled him into a tight hug and Steve patted his back in a brotherly way, and smiled.

"You are _not_ a freak," Thor said fervently into Lakshmi's shoulder. "You are a brave, smart, strong, _loyal_ man. You deserve better than what you've been given." Steve nodded.

"Yeah, here you can have a family. We're an odd bunch, but we're a tight knit group. We stick by each other. You'll always have a place here. Lakshmi's eyes brimmed with tears. He nuzzled Thor's chest like a kitten and let out an animalistic purr.

"_Holy shit Lakshmi! I leave you for two days! __**Two**__! You've practically killed yourself!"_ Lakshmi let out a weak chuckle as he heard Anubis land and run forward, fussing over him like a mother hen. Lakshmi pulled away from Thor and tackled Anubis in a hug. Surprised at this show of affection, but pleased he was acting like wolf for a change; Anubis returned the hug whole heartedly, wrapping his arms and wings around his master.

"I'm so sorry I hit you! I should never have taken out my pain on you! Oh god, can you forgive me?" Anubis looked down at his master, concerned. Lakshmi wasn't usually this expressive when it came to his emotions. He glanced at the other two men.

"_There's nothing to forgive. I should know not to approach a cornered animal by now. You'd have thought I'd have learnt from eh last time, huh?"_ Lakshmi gave a weak chuckle and Anubis glared suspiciously at the two men.

The trim soldier smelt kind enough, as did the scruffy non-human. They were clearly rubbing off on Lakshmi. This could only be a good thing. Lakshmi disentangled himself from Anubis's fur and stumbled back.

"I'm going for a shower, then I have to go tell Fury-" he broke of as Thor, Steve and Anubis glared at him "-I mean, have a nap," they smirked as the man stumbled to the bathroom, fiddling with the knot of his ponytail as he walked. Anubis was now left alone without a translator, and two massively strong blonde men eyeing him suspiciously. But he liked these men. They had brought out emotions in Lakshmi even he had never been able to uncover, and hopefully, they would be able to repair his shattered self confidence and improve his life. He had no idea how his mutation had affected his lifespan, but judging on normal wolf years, he was five; almost halfway though his life. He needed someone to look after his clueless master after he'd passed on.

"You're very friendly with him," Steve teased Thor. A deep blush stained across Thor's cheek bones and he cleared his throat loudly.

"Yes, well. I have grown up from a young child with tales of his adventures. I would like to get to know him more," he spoke slightly louder than usual, and considering he shouted most of the time that was pretty damn loud, and rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. Steve shook his head and rolled his eyes, grabbing up the plate and strolling over to the still open door.

"I'll go tell the others what's going on. _You_ keep an eye on Lakshmi, as you seem to be the only one he trusts. Anubis, can you come with me?" Anubis blinked in surprise, but followed anyway, happy Steve wasn't talking to him in that ridiculous baby voice, or summoning him like some common mutt. He followed the man out, once again having trouble getting through the doors due to his antlers. After some difficulty and twisting of his head, the door slid shut, leaving Thor alone in the room.

The sound of a shower turning on began to issue from the bathroom, and the sound of the glass panel sliding shut. Thor smiled and moved to sit on the bed. He looked at the map that had kept Lakshmi busy for nearly forty eight hours.

It was huge, spanning nearly the whole wall, and made very little sense to him. The bottom layer was covered in different coloured dots, and the plastic layer on top had hundreds of red dots all over the sheet, clustering in random places, usually where there was more of the different coloured dots underneath.

It was all complete gibberish and nonsense to Thor, but assumed it must be important to Lakshmi. The bathroom door creaked open and Lakshmi padded out of the bathroom, dry, but with nothing but a towel around his waist. His long hair was sopping wet and plastered in a massive wave down his back, small rivulets of water constantly running off it onto his back.

He gave a weak smile, one hand holding his towel, the other rubbing at his eyes blearily and he picked a pair of clean boxers out of the tiny duffel bag containing everything he owned and promptly collapsed on the bed.

"How come your still here?" he murmured sleepily. "I'm a monster. You should stay away if you value your life," Thor smiled, and stepped forward to the side of his bed, covering the man's lithe form with the silken black sheets Tony had provided and tucking him in. He stroked the man's wet hair and bent down so he could look him in the eyes.

"You're not a monster. And we will make you see that, Illusion Mater," Lakshmi closed his eyes, and with a sigh his entire body relaxed, showing how tired he really was as his body succumbed to sleep in mere seconds.

There was a knock at the door, and Clint poked his head in. His blue eyes flitted around the room in a mere fraction of a second, and he smiled at the dozing Lakshmi. Thor spared his sleeping form one last glance before hurrying out of the room as the archer beckoned him.

"He's sleeping?" Clint asked quietly as Thor shut the door silently behind him. Thor nodded and Clint beckoned with his head down the hall. "Everyone's in the lab, apparently Banner and Stark have something to show everyone," Thor ginned.

"Lead the way friend," Thor said, careful to keep his voice down in case he woke Lakshmi. Clint sped down the hall with Thor jogging at his heels.

* * *

**Author's Note**

Thank you for my first two reviews, and just so you know I will always mention and reply to any reviews given, so if you have any questions please fire away. So I've decided to just update whenever the hell I feel like it because my life's a bit hectic and unpredictable at the moment so I figured it will be better to just update whenever I have some free time. Anyways, please review!


	4. This Is War

**Summary: **When an unlikely trio are called upon to join the Avengers, they bring with them news of an upcoming war on earth. Lakshmi leads this group, born with the ability to create illusion with his mind. Unfortunately the only one who seems to be able to get close to him is the resident God Of Thunder. Is thunder the only way to shatter the ice around his heart? Set post Avengers ThorxOC

**Warnings: **Swearing, violence, blood and sexual references (Everything that comes out of Tony Stark's mouth) Rated M because I like to swear. A lot.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the Avengers or any of the Marvel characters. Although we all wish we did. Because I would have all of the male Avengers in my basement as my sex slaves :)

**Started:** 6/6/12

**Challenge: **If you can tell me the title of the song I use for each chapter title in a review and the name of the artist, I will send you a snippet of the next chapter, the size of the snippet varying in length depending on how impressed I am with your review. This doesn't mean you start ass-kissing, constructive criticism is highly encouraged as it means my stories get better and I improve as a writer. Flames will be laughed at and I will use them to keep warm at night. YOU HAVE BEEN TOLD!

**Reviews and replies:**

To my anonymous reviewer; thank you for your feedback, it's been the most constructive as of yet. Yes, I can kind of see your point, but I've needed a bit of time to build up some steam explaining what he's generally like as a character, and I hope I haven't bored you with my long winded ways. He comes into himself a bit more in later chapters after his slight breakdown on Thor, and you should start to see a more mischievous side to him starting to appear once he finds his feet with the Avengers.

* * *

"Normal speech"

"_Animals talking. Only Lakshmi and other animals can understand this"_

_Memories, thoughts or dreams. Occasionally emphasis on words._

* * *

**Last Time**

"_How come your still here?" he murmured sleepily. "I'm a monster. You should stay away if you value your life," Thor smiled, and stepped forward to the side of his bed, covering the man's lithe form with the silken black sheets Tony had provided and tucking him in. He stroked the man's wet hair and bent down so he could look him in the eyes._

"_You're not a monster. And we will make you see that, Illusion Mater," Lakshmi closed his eyes, and with a sigh his entire body relaxed, showing how tired he really was as his body succumbed to sleep in mere seconds._

_There was a knock at the door, and Clint poked his head in. His blue eyes flitted around the room in a mere fraction of a second, and he smiled at the dozing Lakshmi. Thor spared his sleeping form one last glance before hurrying out of the room as the archer beckoned him._

"_He's sleeping?" Clint asked quietly as Thor shut the door silently behind him. Thor nodded and Clint beckoned with his head down the hall. "Everyone's in the lab, apparently Banner and Stark have something to show everyone," Thor ginned._

"_Lead the way friend," Thor said, careful to keep his voice down in case he woke Lakshmi. Clint sped down the hall with Thor jogging at his heels._

* * *

Chapter Four

_A Warning To The People_

_The Good And The Evil_

_This Is WAR_

* * *

***Bruce and Tony's Lab***

The lab was exactly what you'd expect considering two genius scientists practically _lived_ down here. Half built machines littered work benches, chemicals bubbled in beakers. Half eaten sandwiches were on the small kitchen worktop that was down here for some reason, and everything had a light covering of oil, bits of wiring, nuts, bolts, screws, tools or any mixture of the above.

Tony and Bruce were trying to persuade Anubis to wear the large blue studded collar Tony was holding, and the demon wolf was obviously refusing. Thor watched with amusement as Tony attempted to get the collar on.

"You people, and er, wolf, are so petty! What are you bickering about now?" Thor scolded. Anubis looked vaguely surprised and growled lightly.

"I just want Anubis to wear this! It's a translator collar, I want to test it. It's supposed to work on beings with higher intelligence and a vocal language, so I want to try it on the only one in the building we can't bloody understand!" Tony fumed, brandishing the metal collar. The avengers 'A' hung from it and the light blue colour shined in the bright lab lights. Thor gave a light sigh and took the collar off Tony and approached Anubis who eyed him warily.

"Will you permit me to put this collar on you, Anubis? It will not hurt in the slightest," he looked at Anubis with big eyes and the wolf shifted awkwardly. Finally he relented and bared his throat to the god, allowing him to fit the collar snugly about his throat and clamped it together.

"I feel like a dog," Anubis complained loudly, tugging at the collar to make it fit more comfortably. The Avengers all gave light gasps as the voice that sounded from the wolf's throat was a light young male's voice, completely in English.

"It works!" Banner crowed delightedly, looked greatly pleased with himself, whereas Tony just looked as smug and cocky as ever.

"Told you," he huffed, his cocky manner showing off as usual. Anubis rolled his eyes.

"And I thought cats were big headed," he muttered. Everyone laughed, and Tony bristled at being compared with a feline.

"Not a kitty," he muttered irritably, earning a booming laugh from Anubis. Clint clapped him on the back.

"Right then my little pussy cat, what's the plan for today?" Tony glared at him, but decided not to comment, instead turning to tap idly at one of the hovering holograms dotted about the room.

"We need to carry on looking for what attacked Lakshmi. It could attack someone again, it probably already has," Anubis nodded.

"It's killed hundreds. We've been working on this case for months," he waved a paw airily, but he could tell the Avengers were shocked.

"Hundreds? How have we not realised this?" Natasha asked incredulously.

"Lady, this is New York. There's a killing every day, you people never notice. These people are nearly always homeless, live alone, are hated or a mixture of the above. This thing hasn't only been killing humans; its killed animals and aliens. We move around the city, finding its victims and plotting where they're killed and the species of the killed, trying to find a pattern or motive in the killing." Anubis looked proud of himself, but Natasha looked horrified.

"This thing's been running around New York for months and you didn't tell us?" Anubis bristled.

"We didn't even know you guys existed until a few days ago! Cut us some slack! Anyway, about your plan Tony; it would be best to wait until Lakshmi wakes until setting off to find this thing. Even if you found it, you wouldn't know how to kill it. Its poison is deadly to humans, so you best not go near it anyway," Anubis said gently. He didn't fancy his new found friends dying just yet.

Tony paused in his tapping and considered this fact.

"What do you know about it?" he asked the wolf, who shrugged his massive shoulders.

"Not much. Lakshmi doesn't like to talk about it. They're called Jageia, they have poisonous claws, and Lakshmi hates them with a burning passion. They kill because it's fun, and move from planet to planet, destroying the planet as they go," the desire to go out and find the Jageia dropped instantaneously.

"Well. They sound pleasant," Clint commented idly. Anubis gave a grimace- or the best grimace a wolf could make- and nodded.

"Like I said; it would be better to wait for Lakshmi to wake. He's the expert. He'll know how to kill them, hunting habits, what they look like, stuff like that." everyone gave nods of agreement. Natasha patted Clint on the shoulder.

"Well if we're not going then, we might as well catch up of that mountain of paper work waiting for us," Clint groaned, but traipsed after Natasha anyway, much to the amusement of the other Avengers. Bruce and Tony returned to scienceing, and Steve, Thor and Anubis traipsed out of the lab.

Anubis didn't like his new collar. The 'A' kept banging against his chest and the weight of it made him feel uncomfortable. But he supposed if he could talk to humans it had to be a bonus.

"What will you be doing Anubis? Your master sleeps, and you have no other goals to occupy your time with," Thor asked conversationally. Anubis shrugged.

"Suppose I'll meet up with Sa'ar and go for a fly. Fancy coming with you two?" Steve and Thor looked at each other.

"Who's Sa'ar?"

* * *

***Up on the roof***

"What are we doing up here you crazy ass mutt?" Steve asked over the wind. Anubis ignored him and threw his head back into a ghostly wolf's howl that sent shivers down both blonde's spines. There was a moment's pause, and then his call was answered by a loud cawing screech.

The Harros dipped into view out the cloud cover and landed heavily in front of Anubis, shaking water droplets off his feathers as he bowed.

"_Good morning,"_ he said politely, his beady black eyes trained on Thor.

"Morning Sa'ar," Sa'ar let out an amused caw and preened a second.

"Speak English do we?" the Harros asked snidely, speaking now in a very sly, aristocratic English accent.

"No, this damn thing translates for me," he tugged at the blue collar with his paw and Sa'ar's beak curved into a slight smirk.

"And here I just thought it was just your shit taste in fashion," Sa'ar let and amused caw again as Anubis took a swipe at him with his huge claws. Thor and Steve watched the two odd creatures banter.

"Sa'ar" Anubis said finally, after he's done wrestling him into the ground.

"Yeah?"

"Do you reckon Steve could have a fly on your back for a bit? I'm carrying Thor, and I think it might be fun to go for a nice fly," the Harros considered him for a moment, before lifting his wings slightly in what he could only describe as a shrug.

"Yeah sure. There's a lightning storm brewing not far from here. Fancy some lightning dodging?" Steve and Thor looked worried, but Anubis nodded enthusiastically and moved to stand next to Thor.

"Hop on buddy," he commanded, lifting a wing up and lying down to give him better access. After a moments struggle, Thor was perched on his back with his knees hooked just in front of his wing joints for comfort. Steve had a slight problem as he had to wrap his arms around the Harros's throat and hold on with his knees.

"Relax. I won't let you fall," Sa'ar scolded. "If I wanted you dead I could think of much more fun ways to do it than have you fall to your death," he sounded almost disappointed that Steve had underestimated his creativity, and Steve was confused.

"Is he always like this?" he gestured down at the bird he was sat on. Anubis gave a wry nod, grinned and ran forward, flinging himself off the roof.

He immediately felt the warm air hit the underside of his wings, and cocked them slightly so he soared upwards, the exhilarated Thor clinging to his back and whooping with joy.

Another loud caw cut through his ear fur, and Sa'ar whipped past, a grinning Steve clinging onto his back for dear life.

"SO IT'S A RACE IS IT PIGEON?" he howled over the rushing wind. A sharp cut over the top of his head signalled the Harros clipping him on the head with his talon and diving up into the cloud bank.

"I CONSIDER THAT A YES, DEMON!" Thor crowed joyously in his ear, and Anubis gave a wolf's howl and soared straight up into the clouds.

The sea of sculpted white cloud filled his vision, and the moisture soaked him to the bone instantly. He shook water out of his eyes, and he felt Thor grip his antlers for an extra hold. At least he thought that's what he was doing before the god wrench his head to one side, forcing him to turn to one side.

"I'M NOT A FUCKING CAR, AND THOSE AREN'T FOR STEERING!" he complained. Thor didn't comment, but wrenched his head, this time not a moment too soon as a bolt of lightning smashed down into the other cloud bank beneath him. "SHIT!" he cursed loudly. He could see Sa'ar just ahead of him weaving delicately between the lightning strikes. They had inadvertently flown into what he called a sandwich formation. There was a large sheet of cloud just above him, and a large one below him, and lightning passed constantly between the two.

He jerked his antlers out of Thor's grasp and felt the god wind his hand in his sodden fur. He forced himself to relax and enjoy the feel of the lightning flowing in the air all around him, letting instinct tell him where the next strike would come.

Not a moment to late he locked one wing, causing him to swerve to the left to avoid being fried.

The next few minutes became a blur of almost mid air dancing with Sa'ar, dodging the lightning strikes as they came, the two exhilarated blondes holding on to rain slicked bodies. The rain had begun to fall in earnest in the cloud bank, rendering visibility to a few mere feet, and making their game even more dangerous.

"ATTACK!" Anubis heard the cry first, and turned his head just in time to see a huge metal looking bird plummet at him. He swerved just in time, but the bird quickly swerved upwards and attacked at his exposed belly. He let out a roar of pain and he heard Sa'ar let out a battle cry and engage the other bird that appeared out of the rain.

"WHAT IS HAPPENING?" Thor bellowed. Anubis didn't reply as he caught the metal bird up in his claws and tossed him away from him. He slowed and hovered in mid air. Rain and lightning swirled around him, and the bird appeared to hover just in front of him.

"BY THE NAME OF THE ALLFATHER, THAT'S A MALAINOS!" the bird crowed its delight at being recognised, and Anubis quickly registered its appearance. Its feathers appeared to be made out of some sort of silver metal, and a pair of storm blue eyes glowed dangerously in the hollows of its sockets. It had huge talons, and four wings, set together like that of a dragonfly.

The Malainos laughed at them and shot forward. But this time Anubis was ready. He lowered his head just in time, caught the bird in his antlers and tossed him into an oncoming lightning bolt. The bird screamed in agony as the volts coursed around its metal body, the charge creating a dull blue glow around its body.

The glow faded and the bird hovered for a moment, panting. It let out a squawk as the battered body of its companion slammed into it. A very battered but clearly victorious Steve and Sa'ar appeared out of the rain to hover next to Anubis. The birds righted themselves in the air and turned to hover parallel to them.

"WHY DO YOU FIGHT FOR THIS PLANET SO, WOLF?" one of the birds yelled over the hammering wind and rain, its blue eyes boring into Anubis's green ones.

"BECAUSE IT'S MY HOME! I WILL DIE TO PROTECT IT!" he retorted furiously. The birds have hollow, but loud, laughs that made Anubis shiver uncomfortably.

"WELL CONSIDER THIS YOUR EVICTION NOTICE, WOLF. A WARNING, TO EVERYONE! THIS IS WAR! THE JAGEIA WILL BURN THIS PLANET TO THE GROUND, AND OUR SPECIES WILL RISE FROM THE ASHES TO START ANEW!" the birds cackled insanely and disappeared into the lashing rain. Anubis and Sa'ar panted and shot downward in an attempt to get out of the lightning field so they could relax.

The world below the cloud bank was just as rainy as the world above, but at least here they could get their bearings and begin to return to HQ.

"What were they?" Thor asked in Anubis's ear, clearly glad of the fact he didn't have to shout quite as loud now to make himself heard. Anubis shook his head, accidently clipping Thor on the head with his antlers as he did so.

"Oops, sorry. I honestly have no idea Thor. I've never seen those things before, but I'm sure Lakshmi will have some idea. Chances are he'll be awake when we get back. It'll be about two o'clock when we get back. The wind pushed us much further south than I'd originally planned, and we have to fight the headwind on the way back. That and we're going at a fraction of the speed we were travelling earlier because we exhausted our energy fighting them damn birds." he panted. Thor patted his neck.

"Do we need to rest, friend?" he asked in concern. Sa'ar appeared next to them. He was beaten and bloody, but Anubis was sure he looked just as bad.

"I have to land," the bird panted dejectedly. "I physically can't fly anymore. I think I've broke a wing," his left wing did indeed look at a rather odd angle, but praise given where due, he was doing a remarkable job of staying in the air. Anubis nodded and immediately began to lower his altitude. Sa'ar did too, but it proved too much and his wings folded in on themselves, causing both himself and the super soldier to plummet to the ground.

Anubis cursed and tucked his wings to his body so he could get on a level with them, grabbed them both up in his claw and flared his wings to stop his decent.

"Hold in there Demon!" Thor bellowed, as Anubis's wings strained to keep all four of them in the air. He was losing altitude at an alarming rate, and he could see the ground getting closer and closer. He pumped his wings at top speed, knowing he wouldn't be able to get them stopped, but it would soften their inevitable crash landing.

They crashed on the building roof with an almighty thump, sprawling out and skidding across the gritted concrete.

"Fuck..." Anubis groaned. His chest ached where the bird and clawed at it, and he was sure he was bleeding as heavily as Sa'ar was. One of the bird's eyes had swollen shut, his left wing was bent at an odd angle, and the rest of the bird's body was a sea of cuts and bites.

"My sentiments exactly," Thor muttered, disentangling himself from the knot of limbs and rushing over to help Steve off Sa'ar. Both men were relatively uninjured, but their animal companions couldn't exactly say the same. Anubis, ever the trooper, managed to pick himself up and limp over to where Sa'ar was lay sprawled. He was clearly unconscious, but he had no fatal looking wounds.

"My god, what was all that?" Steve panted, walking over with Thor. He patted Anubis's neck as the wolf dropped his head so it was practically between his front legs.

"Fuck knows, but I tell you; them birds weren't wrong. This _is_ war. Now it's personal," Anubis growled to himself. Thor and Steve nodded at each other. Anubis stood and panted for a moment, before letting out a defiant growl and standing up straight. "Get on," he lay down and lifted a wing.

"What? You can't carry us both, and Sa'ar can't fly!" Steve said in bemusement. Anubis let out a near feral growl.

"Just do it," Knowing it wouldn't be a good idea to argue with Anubis right now, Steve and Thor dutifully got on the wolf's back. Steve was perched just behind Thor, and he had to wrap his arms around the man's waist to prevent himself sliding off Anubis's rain slicked body.

Said wolf let out a defiant growl, and much to both of their amazement, stood up. His legs trembled ever so slightly under their combined weight, but other than that he showed no sign of the physical exertion. He actually managed to walk forward and pick up Sa'ar in his mouth and move to the edge of the building.

"What are you doing?" Steve asked nervously as Anubis spread his wings.

"Don't do it," Thor warned. Anubis ignored them and launched himself off the side of the building, gliding down swiftly to ground level and proceeding to run along the pavement, much to the surprise and horror of the civilians.

"My god Anubis, have you gone insane? How on earth are you carrying all three of us at once?" Steve cried in jubilation. Anubis didn't answer; he just continued to run through the rain filled street of New York, ignoring the shocked yelps of the humans as he ran past.

* * *

***Avengers HQ***

"Where'd you think they've gone? Clint asked carelessly, as his eyes scanned the report in his hands, not really reading the text on the page at all. Natasha shrugged.

"Don't know. Where ever they are, I hope they're not outside. The weather truly is miserable today," she gestured vaguely at the rain filled sky that could be view from the large window of the living room.

The living room of the Avenger's HQ was a large, open space affair, with its own bar. Tony, of course, had dictated the building of the whole thing after the Hulk had trashed a large portion of the tower last Easter.

All the sofas were big, red and squishy, as the TV was flat screen, high definition, and top of the range. Tony was constantly replacing it with the latest model whenever it came out, so they got through a lot of TVs. Every game console imaginable was sat at the bottom of the TV, surrounded by a mass tangle of wires and a small mountain of games.

"I can't believe I'm stuck inside. This is a great day to practice shooting in low visibility conditions." Clint complained, ignoring the exasperated sigh that came from Natasha.

"Shut it Hawk. If you're bored, do the paper work in your hands. It's your fault you let it build up this much anyway. So suck it up and get on with it." Clint pouted, and his eyes returned to staring blankly at the report in his hand. This had been Phil's crappy job, but Phil was still taking a leave of absence after being stabbed. He was only working part time at the moment, and had been for the best part of a year after being stabbed, but he was due to return to full time work soon, much to Clint's joy, as he would no longer have to do all this damn paper work. He could let Phil do it all and watch everyone from his nest. He like the solitude observation offered, this was part of the reason he was such an excellent sniper he enjoyed just sitting and watching the world go by.

"But I'm booorrred," he moaned eventually, after a few minutes of gorming aimlessly at the memo in his hands. He had to quickly duck as a thick folder was launched in the general direction of his face. "Whoa! Watch it Tasha!" Natasha ignored him and returned to her memo.

"Archer? Archer!" Clint gave a start as the booming voice of Thor echoed in from a lower floor.

"Thor?" he asked, knowing full well Thor probably couldn't hear him.

"_Sir, Thor, Steve and two unknown animals are in the lobby. They all seem to have been in a fight, I suggest you go and tend to them," _the smooth voice of JARVIS sounded in the room, and both Clint and Natasha leapt to their feet instantly and scrambling to the lift.

Thor and Steve were bending over the two animals that were both bleeding heavily. Steve and Thor had a number of scratches all over their bodies and looked a bit tired, but were dutifully tending to Anubis and some unknown bird creature.

"Thor? Steve?" Natasha asked, rushing forward to help them. "What happened?"

"We were attacked," the bird wheezed. "Damn Malainos," Thor patted its back lightly and moved to Anubis. The wolf was lay on the ground, panting and seemingly near death. He was exhausted. The wolf's eyes flickered to him as the thunder god put a hand on his neck and patted him too.

"I'm fine Sparky," the wolf wheezed. His leaf green eyes glittered playfully for a moment. Even near death the wolf had enough energy to tease Thor. He'd be fine.

"I know Demon, but your master will have my hide if he sees what condition you're in," he pointed out, earning a chuckle from the wolf that soon turned into a coughing splutter. Thor sighed, and much to everyone's surprise, picked the horse size wolf up bridal style, and proceeded to remove him from the lobby.

"Put me down!" the wolf demanded. Thor pointedly ignored him and began to carry him to the living room. The wolf was so exhausted he didn't even bother snapping at the god. He just let his body fall slack against the god and let him carry him up to the living room with Steve carrying Sa'ar behind him.

* * *

***An unknown location, around midnight***

The two Malainos flew swiftly toward the open window, their metallic wings making odd grating noises against the still night air. They flew in and down a dark hallway, coming to a rest in a large theatre room. A single Jageia was sat on a small plinth, with two burly looking guard Jageia at the foot of it.

The two birds landed with a horrible sound of screeching metal, and the Jageia on the platform hissed in displeasure, causing the birds to cower slightly, fear glinting in the cold grey eyes.

"Artemis, Aquila, I assume you bring news?" the Jageia on the platform had a horrible, raspy grating quality that made a shiver travel down your spine. Artemis and Aquila looked at each other in fear and one cleared its throat.

"Well, we encountered a Harros and a Kaame-Wolf hybrid whilst flying today," the Jageia hissed and stood up, three tails whipping back and forth in anger.

"WHAT?" the Jageia roared. "Why wasn't I informed sooner?" he roared angrily. The Malainos quaked with fear, and even the guards at the foot of his plinth looked wary.

"In fairness yer grea'ness, we ahnly jus' fand ou' abou' it," the other said. It sounded slightly punch drunk as it swayed slightly. Blood could be seen glistening on the metallic feathers atop his head. Its partner looked at it in concern as it attempted to righten it's four wings without much success.

"Unacceptable. That is a lie. You found out about it around midday today. My reputation for being able to see into the mind is no lie you fool," the Jageia stood with a horrible carefulness that added to the tension in the room, and leapt off the platform. Now around his neck could be seen a necklace with various war trophies. Claws, teeth, bones were all amongst this, but most prominent of all was a large nut brown feather, dangling next to a small golden locket.

The birds began to quake with fear, creating the awful sound of metal vibrating against metal. The Jageia hissed again, barring its huge sabre teeth, violet eyes glowing furiously.

"My reputation for disposing of those who cannot perform however..." he trailed a claw close to one of the bird's throat, "Has been seriously... _undermined,_" there was a sound of wrenching metal and two loud squawks, closely followed by a spray of scarlet blood. The Jageia licked a claw clean almost carelessly, then threw the now limp bodies of the birds into a corner.

"You just can't get the staff these days..." he sighed irritably to himself. He whipped round to face one of the guards. "Go get Zostar! I have need of his... skills," he growled. The Jageia immediately snapped to attention and bowed his head.

"Yes sir," he said in a very clipped and profession tone, running gracefully from the room on his six legs. The other guard bowed, and moved off to drag the corpses of the two birds out of the way, leaving the other Jageia to lounge on his plinth, casually licking the blood staining his claws like it was nothing more than a little bit of tomato sauce.

There were few minutes of silence, then the double doors at the end of the room were flung open and a tall wolf like creature strode in.

With a canine build, four largely pawed feet a slender canine head, it stood at around seven foot high. It had large fur spines placed along its back, starting at the crown of the head between two large thin wolfish ears. Its fur was a pure snow white, except for the tips of the fur ridges and the tip of its tail where the fur was a deep blue, gradually getting lighter until if completely faded into the white. Cold ice blue eyes darted around the room in a swift, calculating manner.

"Why so edgy Zostar? Do you not trust me?" the Jageia rasped. Zostar turned to face him and pointedly glared. Two bright red feathers could be seen poking out of the fur by its left ear, and they stuck out even more as the creature, the Ice Varna, slicked his ears back and growled low in its throat.

"No I _don't, _Morpheus," Zostar snapped. But what can I say? As 'claws for hire', I can hardly choose to be picky with my employment, can I?" he spoke in a slick, posh, almost English accent, and is eyes now held an almost maniacal glint to them. The Jageia, Morpheus, growled at the mention of his name.

"No, you can't," he rasped angrily, "But I have a job for you that will set you for life," this roused the assassin's interest. His stance shifted slightly, so he was leaning more to the one speaking than to the door, and his ears perked forward.

"I'm listening," he said carefully, a smile beginning to creep its way onto his muzzle.

"Lakshmi," Morpheus rasped. This completely changed the assassin's tune.

"Forget it," he said instantly, turning to leave.

"Zostar!" Morpheus snapped angrily, effectively stopping the Ice Varna in his tracks. You never messed with the leader of the Jageia. It tended to result in your home planet being targeted and your life becoming a constant hell. "I don't want you to kill Lakshmi himself. No, that pleasure is mine. No, I want the hybrid and the Harros dead. I want everyone that damn Kaame is associated with dead. I want him begging for death. I want his mind to be a shattered wreck before I tear it out of his head," a manic light was glittering in his eyes. Zostar looked at the crazed Jageia with a bored expression.

"Done. Send the details to by home, and I'll get it done," he said over his shoulder as he left the room. Morpheus growled as the doors shut behind the slippery assassin with a loud creak and a bang. This would be glorious, to finally see that damn Kaame fall at his paws. Just like his mate before him.

* * *

**Author's Note**

**Wow, this chapter was a bitch! I only decided to add the last bit much later, but I think it turned out rather well. This is where I finally begin to get the plot in motion! Huzzah! It only took three chapters and lots of time. I would have updated sooner but school's a bitch at the minuet and I've had very little time in the evening. Anyways, I enjoyed writing the fight scene, and I have my psychotic best friend helping me with the gore and shit, so if it fucks with your head later on in the story when I really let her loose, I apologise; she's a _bit _mental. Anyways, R&R please!**


	5. Take Our Hands And Lead Us

**Summary: **When an unlikely trio are called upon to join the Avengers, they bring with them news of an upcoming war on earth. Lakshmi leads this group, born with the ability to create illusion with his mind. Unfortunately the only one who seems to be able to get close to him is the resident God Of Thunder. Is thunder the only way to shatter the ice around his heart? Set post Avengers ThorxOC

**Warnings: **Swearing, violence, blood and sexual references (Everything that comes out of Tony Stark's mouth) Rated M because I like to swear. A lot.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the Avengers or any of the Marvel characters. Although we all wish we did. Because I would have all of the male Avengers in my basement as my sex slaves :)

**Started:** 6/6/12

**Challenge: **If you can tell me the title of the song I use for each chapter title in a review and the name of the artist, I will send you a snippet of the next chapter, the size of the snippet varying in length depending on how impressed I am with your review. This doesn't mean you start ass-kissing, constructive criticism is highly encouraged as it means my stories get better and I improve as a writer. Flames will be laughed at and I will use them to keep warm at night. YOU HAVE BEEN TOLD!

* * *

"Normal speech"

"_Animals talking. Only Lakshmi and other animals can understand this"_

_Memories, thoughts or dreams. Occasionally emphasis on words._

* * *

**Last Time**

"_I'm listening," he said carefully, a smile beginning to creep its way onto his muzzle._

"_Lakshmi," Morpheus rasped. This completely changed the assassin's tune._

"_Forget it," he said instantly, turning to leave._

"_Zostar!" Morpheus snapped angrily, effectively stopping the Ice Varna in his tracks. You never messed with the leader of the Jageia. It tended to result in your home planet being targeted and your life becoming a constant hell. "I don't want you to kill Lakshmi himself. No, that pleasure is mine. No, I want the hybrid and the Harros dead. I want everyone that damn Kaame is associated with dead. I want him begging for death. I want his mind to be a shattered wreck before I tear it out of his head," a manic light was glittering in his eyes. Zostar looked at the crazed Jageia with a bored expression._

"_Done. Send the details to by home, and I'll get it done," he said over his shoulder as he left the room. Morpheus growled as the doors shut behind the slippery assassin with a loud creak and a bang. This would be glorious, to finally see that damn Kaame fall at his paws. _**Just like his mate before him.**

* * *

**Chapter Five**

_Take Our Hands And Lead Us,_

_Fill Our Hearts And Souls With All You Know_

* * *

***Lakshmi's Room, Avengers HQ***

When Lakshmi woke, it was to several burning pains in his stomach region, and a deep pounding resonating in his head. One was hunger. The other was his gash. It was burning in agony. He could feel all four score marks with each beat of his heart. He had another pain, but he was used to that. They burned on the back of his shoulder blades, and were an old pain he had lived with for several thousand years. His head ached due to his hangover. He had spent the last few days working in an alcohol fuelled haze to keep his emotions at bay. He honestly had no idea what had transpired over the past few days, all he knew was that it felt like someone had lifted a huge weight off his heart. His stomach gave an obscenely loud gurgle, and Lakshmi decided it was time to go eat.

He hauled himself out of bed and looked down at his gashes. They had got infected. Yellow pus seeped from the wound, which had a god awful greenish tinge to it. He breathed a deep sigh. Time to use _that_ power. He covered the wound in an illusion of being completely healed and focused on it as hard as he could. He felt his stomach muscles jump and twitch as he felt his skin begin to knit itself together.

When he focused hard enough on an illusion he could force it into reality. It took an inordinate amount of energy and he rarely ever did it, but he didn't want to have to deal with such a bad wound in such a crisis.

His wound healed, he pushed himself to his feet and hobbled over to his drawer. It had been fully stocked whilst he slept, courtesy of Tony Stark, and it was filled with his favourite colours; reds, purples and blacks. He felt his heart warm at the friendliness of his new team mates and pulled out a fresh pair of underwear, a pair of black cargo pants and a baggy purple t-shirt.

He tugged himself into them and ran his hands through his hair. He re-tied his loose ponytail and looked at himself in the mirror.

Lakshmi still had a youthful appearance, and some sleep had taken some of the lines off his face. He peered a newspaper someone had left on the dresser for him. He'd been asleep for nearly two days! He rubbed his hands vigorously over his face and scowled. He hadn't eaten in four days! No wonder he was so damn hungry.

He jogged to the kitchen, feeling his stomach rumbling loudly which gave him a little more energy. No one was in the tower at this particular time except the Avengers, and he didn't know where they all were.

The kitchen was empty, and of course it was top of the range. Polished marble surfaces gleamed and high tech kitchen appliances were everywhere. A large fruit bowl sat on a counter and he ran over to it, his mouth watering.

He ate the whole bowl without abating his hunger in the slightest. He knew it would take a_ lot_ of food before his hunger was abated in the slightest with the amount of illusion he'd used in the past few days, _and_ the realised illusion he'd preformed. He could probably eat through all the food in the tower and still have a rumbling stomach.

"Hungry?" a smirking voice asked. Tony Stark was leaning on the door frame, watching him with mild amusement. Lakshmi looked up from licking his fingers clean and nodded with a grimace. Tony moved forward, attempting to take the apple he'd missed, only to find a knife quivering near his fingertips. He quickly withdrew his hand, allowing Lakshmi to pick the apple up and somehow managing to eat the whole thing in only a few bites whilst stowing the knife away somewhere on his person. Tony looked him up and down, trying to figure out where he was stashing it.

"I will be for a few solid months unless I get a hell of a lot of food down me," he shrugged lightly, picking a few seeds from under his nails and flicking them at Stark. He repressed a belch and straightened his top. "Thanks, uh, for the clothes." he muttered awkwardly. Tony beamed at him.

"No problem! Nice to see you like them! C'mon, the others are up in the living room. They want to talk to you," Lakshmi rubbed his still grumbling belly and nodded.

"Sure." Tony crooked his finger in a 'come hither' gesture and Lakshmi dutifully followed him out of the room, his ponytail swishing behind him.

* * *

***Living Room***

The Avengers were sprawled out on the various sofas when Lakshmi entered the room. He looked around and Thor waved at him. What surprised him was Sa'ar was in his lap, a splint on his left wing and an eye patch on. He looked at Lakshmi with his beady black eye and narrowed it.

"Lakshmi! Glad you've woken!" Thor boomed, standing up and Sa'ar spilling onto the floor with an angry squawk. "How are you feeling?" he asked, putting one of his massive hands on Lakshmi's shoulder.

"Famished. But that's normal for everything that's happened," he said casually, rubbing his stomach and pointing to the Harros on the floor. "Err, what's he doing here?" the Harros huffed.

"Rude, actually," Lakshmi shrugged and moved to him, holding his wing in his hand and looking it up and down. "Do you mind?" Sa'ar demanded.

"No, or I wouldn't be doing it," Lakshmi said casually, using the pads of his thumbs to feel what had broken. "I've broken enough wings in my time to know what I'm doing," he said calmly, eyes roving over the broken appendage. It didn't take him long to find the problem. He'd just dislocated a joint in the wing, so it was just a simple job of popping it back into place, which he did, earning a loud squawk from Sa'ar.

The splint fell off and the bird flapped into the air angrily.

"Problem solved," Lakshmi said standing and brushing a few feathers off his top. Sa'ar landed on the top of one of the sofas, looked his wing up and down said appreciatively,

"Nice," Lakshmi nodded at him and sat himself next to Bruce, stifling a loud yawn.

"I try," he yawned, leaning over to look at the equations Bruce was jotting down. He pointed deftly to a few errors, and Bruce blushed before correcting them. "Now, I return to my first question; why is he here?" Thor laughed and sat on Lakshmi's other side.

"Me, Steve, the Demon and Sa'ar went on a fight that tuned into a mid air brawl. Two Malainos attacked us whilst we flew, and we gain a few minor injuries fighting them off." he smiled at Lakshmi who blinked.

"Malainos? What are Malainos doing in this galaxy? What could possibly be here that they could want?" Clint sighed and leaned forward in the chair he was sat in.

"We don't know. That's why we want your help. They were working with the Jageia. They said a war was starting,"

"No," Lakshmi cut him off, his eyes closed and a frown creasing his brow.

"What?" Clint asked in confusion.

"No, the war started thousands of years ago. They're just bringing the fighting here," he opened his eyes and looked at Thor seriously. "When war comes to this planet, and it will, we need to finish these things once and for all. Because do you know which planet is next on their radar?" Thor's eyes grew wide.

"Asgard?" he asked. Lakshmi looked at him, and nodded slowly.

"Yes. They will destroy every living thing on this planet, and then move to the next, and the next, and the next, until everything that isn't Jageia is dead. They must've called an alliance with these Malainos for some reason or another. I just haven't figured out what yet," he rubbed his face and sighed.

"Is there anything we can do?" Natasha asked. Lakshmi's eyes flashed up to her and he nodded.

"Yes. There are thousands of creatures made homeless by these... _things_. I bet you a pretty penny that I can assemble you a _damn_ good army if I sent out a call to war into the stars." Thor stood up and clapped his hands.

"Yes! We create our own army with the ones who will fight tooth and nail to take these beasts down!" he boomed in his loud voice, and Lakshmi had to repress a fond smile. Sa'ar didn't miss the slight brightening in Lakshmi's expression. He smirked and hopped along the back of the sofa and pecked at Lakshmi's hair.

"_Watch it lover boy. Don't want these people to think you have emotion do you?"_ Sa'ar said in his own language, causing Lakshmi to hit him off the back of the sofa resulting in a puff of feathers and an angry squawk. Then he realised the only one who was missing in the room.

"Where's Anubis?" he asked. Everyone tensed and looked at each other nervously. Lakshmi stood up and narrowed his eyes dangerously. "Where. Is. He." he growled dangerously. Thor patted his shoulder soothingly.

"The Demon is fine. He is resting still, but he will live," Lakshmi relaxed under Thor's warm palm and nodded.

"Fine. I need a lab to work in. And I need to show you my work," Bruce and Tony both brightened at the mention of a lab and Lakshmi smirked knowing he was going to get exactly what he wanted.

"Lakshmi! I do believe that's the closest to a smile I've ever seen on your face." Sa'ar teased. Lakshmi frowned at him and promptly stalked out of the room.

"What rattled his cage?" Clint asked in confusion. Sa'ar sighed and fluttered onto the coffee table.

"Lakshmi hasn't smiled once in the two thousand years I've known him. He has had precious little to smile about in his whole life. The person that ever makes that man smile," he sighed and turned his head away from the door to look carefully at Thor with his undamaged eye. "I will serve them faithfully for the rest of eternity," he picked the eye patch off and peeled his eye open, cracking the scabs off so he could look closely at them all. Thor strode across the room.

"I will talk to him," he said confidently, leaving the room and the Avengers who seemed confused at this turn of events. Bruce scribbled a few more letters, oblivious to the tension in the room, before standing up and tucking his pencil behind his ear.

"Come on Tony. Let's go help Lakshmi. We might even learn something from him he's supposed to be a genius," Tony stood up with a little flare and ran to catch up with Bruce as he left the room, still reading his notebook.

"Lakshmi! Illusion Master, wait!" Lakshmi ignored Thor as he stormed angrily through the plain white corridors of the tower. Thor sighed and jogged up behind him, putting his hands around the man's ribcage to stop him. The affect on Lakshmi was instantaneous. He froze up and began to hyperventilate. "What? Lakshmi, why are you-?" Thor said, flustered. He stuttered for a few moments, looking into Lakshmi's face, before he ran out of options and just bodily slapped the man in the face.

He didn't quite get the reaction he was after as a fist came flying out of nowhere and struck his jaw, but he managed to snap Lakshmi out of whatever fear had gripped him so tightly. The man shook his head and looked up at Thor holding his jaw in confusion. Then it seemed to click.

"Oh god! Sorry!" he rushed forward and rubbed his fingers over Thor's now bruised jaw. "You spooked me, I don't like being touched near my- in that, general area," he broke off in mid sentence and corrected himself, and this didn't go unnoticed by Thor who frowned at Lakshmi, trying to ignore the pleasurable shivers running down his spine as Lakshmi brushed over his jaws with delicate fingers.

"Why?" Thor asked gently. Lakshmi looked away and removed his fingers, clutching them in the loose strands of hair hanging by his face.

"I... that's a story for another day," he muttered, moving around Thor and moving down the corridor again.

"You are just mysteries wrapped in mysteries, aren't you?" Thor asked with a grin as Lakshmi opened the door to the lab.

"And that's the way I like it," Thor beamed as he heard an almost teasing tone come into Lakshmi's normally monotone voice. They were interrupted as Sa'ar flew into the room with his map and all his work in his beak. "Ah, thank you." he took the map off him and laid it across the table. "JARVIS!"

"_Yes sir?"_ the cool voice of Jarvis sounded and Lakshmi scratched the bridge of his nose.

"Can you scan this and get me a 3D projection of it please?" he asked politely.

"_Of course sir. May I request you stand back?"_ Lakshmi stood back and watched the blue lines run over his map and smiled as Tony walked in and stared at him in confusion.

"How do you... how do you know about JARVIS? Why does he even listen to you?" Lakshmi looked at him and moved to look at his projection.

"I'm persuasive," he said casually, moving some details and adding a few dots to the map by jabbing at the hologram. "Now look at this," he pointed at the hologram. "JARVIS, please remove all population markers," the red dots all vanished. Lakshmi grabbed the illusion and twisted it. "All of these dots are a murder by a Jageia. All of them happen at random times of the day, none of the people are connected and they happen at random points in the city. Connection?" he looked at Bruce and Tony who both looked confused.

"There... isn't one," Bruce said uncertainly, looking at Tony for support. Tony shrugged, and Lakshmi had a knowing glint in his eye.

"There is. I had to really think about this, and I finally realised. These are Jageia living undercover. These murders are where they fell off the wagon and killed because they could resist no longer," Thor looked at him fearfully.

"You mean... these things are living in the city?" he asked, horrified. Sa'ar actually cowered at the thought. Lakshmi grimaced and nodded.

"Yes. They've got their way into high standing government positions. Looks like they're going to turn Earth on its self. So all they have to do it sit back and watch the fireworks," he sighed and span the hologram around and tapped at a few of the finer details with an irritated expression.

"What are we going to do?" Bruce said desperately, his pulse quickening as panic began to grip him. Lakshmi heard this and sent an illusion of relaxation over Bruce. The tension leaked almost instantly out of his body and he looked curiously at Lakshmi, but decided not to comment.

"Lakshmi?" the voice of Anubis came through the open doorway, soon followed by the wolf himself. He sounded as though he had a head cold and his entire stomach was bandaged up.

"Nice to see you up and about buddy," Lakshmi greeted, eyes glancing up from his work only momentarily. He paused, and looked up slowly. "What on earth happened to you?" he saw the bandages and the slight limp on Anubis as he moved over.

"Ah, Malainos," he grimaced. He snuffled the back of Bruce's head in greeting and Bruce rubbed the animal's muzzle.

"Nice to see you've made a new friend," Lakshmi commented idly as he opened a new file and began to assemble a hologram of something. Tony laughed and moved to watch his from the other side of the table he was working at.

He moved a few more components then enlarged the machine. "This," he span the machine a bit, "Is a trans-planet communicator. Simple bit of tech where I come from, but effective. It will take a few weeks to perfect and complete as well as the time it will take to gather all of the materials to use it." he sighed and rubbed his face. He seemed to be doing a lot of that just lately. He flicked a few holograms and a long list of materials appeared next to the hologram,

"These are everything you need?" Tony asked scanning the material list. Lakshmi nodded and pointed to the one material Tony didn't recognise.

"The only problem is this one. I need to make a trip to Asgard to get this. It's mine, and it will send out my own personalised signal," Thor frowned as Lakshmi created a hologram of a neatly cut red and black diamond like gem.

"I recognise that! It's been the jewel of my father's treasure room for neigh on two thousand years. What could you possibly want with it?" Lakshmi actually growled, his long hair bristling like an angry cat.

"That gem is _mine,_" he spat. "I want it back! It will send out a messaged pulse of my energy signature across the stars, several times over the speed of light. I could get this message halfway across the universe if a few days. That gem is 99% of my power in a crystalline form, and I need it back," he tensed, daring Thor to argue with him. The Asgardian didn't, but he smiled instead.

"Very well. I can get Heimdall to get us to Asgard on the Bifröst," he clapped his hands and smiled. "You hear that Heimdall? Tell my father I'm coming home!" he boomed. Lakshmi looked at him in bewilderment for a moment, and repressed the chuckle that was building in his chest. Sa'ar chuckled though, and jumped onto Anubis's back.

"_Let's go Anubis. I think there's a bromance brewing between Lakshmi and Thor, and I don't want to watch the live porno unfold," _Sa'ar crowed, but to the annoyance of the humans and Asgardian that couldn't understand a word he was saying. Lakshmi actually blushed a bright red, but swiftly covered it with an illusion, and tossed one of his throwing knives in Sa'ar direction, landing them a hairs breadth from Sa'ar's breast feathers Sa'ar tried not to react and merely looked at Lakshmi in distaste. Thor looked overjoyed at the thought of returning home,

"It will be nice to see my brother again," Thor said happily as he left the room. Lakshmi watched him go, saved his hologram and jogged out after Thor, Bruce and Tony back to their science discussions, barely noticing as everyone left the room around them.

* * *

***Bifröst***

Lakshmi staggered a bit as they landed. He had arrived with Thor, Sa'ar and Anubis, as he didn't wish to drag the other Avengers into this unfamiliar territory. The glittering city of Asgard was visible from the rebuilt portal room. The guardian looked at them silently with golden eyes. Lakshmi looked at the man.

"It is nice to see you once again," the man greeted in his low voice. Lakshmi nodded, a smile glitter creeping into his red eyes.

"You too, little kitten," Lakshmi teased, and the guardian actually laughed. The nickname was clearly derived from some old event between the two, as no one else had a clue what they were talking about.

"Cheep cheep," the guardian offered as a rebuttal, causing Lakshmi to look incredibly sheepish and blush lightly.

"Cheep cheep?" Thor asked in confusion, and Anubis and Sa'ar sniggered at Lakshmi's expression.

"Not a story I ever plan to tell. I will take that story to my _grave,_" he said fervently. He exited the portal room on swift feet and the others followed him, Sa'ar riding on Anubis's back. Odin was waiting for them on the bridge with Frigga, Loki, Lady Sif and the Warriors Three.

"My friends!" Thor boomed, running forward to embrace them. "Brother!" he grabbed Loki and pulled him up into a massive bear hug, much to the others chagrin. Lakshmi watched in mild fascination as he greeted his mother and father and turned to Lakshmi. "These are my parents," he pointed to Frigga and Odin who looked warily at Lakshmi.

"You do not look much like and Kaame I have ever seen," Odin said cautiously. "Last I checked they were winged and had antlers. Much like your canine friend here," he pointed to Anubis who looked surprised. Lakshmi looked at Odin coldly.

"That is none of your concern or business, and I have merely returned for what is mine, and I strongly advise you return it, lest I tear apart your palace to get it," he said it calmly, but his voice held a quiet power that seemed to attract the attention of Loki, who looked at him appraisingly. Odin however, looked thunderous.

"You cannot have it!" he boomed. Lakshmi's eyes narrowed dangerously and he growled. He walked forward slowly and whispered in Odin's ear.

"I wasn't asking," Lakshmi leaned back, winked at Odin, and vanished in a swirl of smoke. Odin looked furious. He turned to the guards he'd brought with him.

"Send the message out! Find him, and drag him to the dungeon! I want him alive!" he strode away, back to the horses he'd left a little down the bridge. Thor went to follow him, but Sa'ar held a wing out to prevent him leaving, leant down and whispered into Thor's ear.

"He'll want us to stay here so we can beat a hasty retreat when he returns with his prize," he said craftily, returning to his perch in Anubis's antlers. Sif and the three warriors ran up to Thor, Loki having mysteriously vanished to god only knew where.

"Who _was _that?" Sif asked incredulously, putting a hand on her hip silently threatening for an answer. Thor beamed.

"That, my friends, was the great Lakshmi. The Illusions Master," the four Asgardians gasped, causing Thor to beam even more.

"Really?" Sa'ar sighed.

"Two legs are such twits sometimes," Anubis nodded in agreement, subsequently throwing Sa'ar out of his antlers. Sa'ar hovered in midair. "Four leggers are too," he sighed, settling back in Anubis's antlers once more.

* * *

***Odin's Treasure Room***

Lakshmi crept silently into the room, dropping his illusion so he could concentrate more on the task at hand. He could feel his energy calling out to him, sending comforting waves over his body. He felt better than he had in centuries just by being in the same room as his crystal, and he hadn't even picked it up yet.

In that crystal was a massive well of energy. He could shatter apart the whole of the nine realms and the solar systems they were in and not even make a dint in the supply. The only problem was, using a great deal of the energy inside could burn him up too. He wanted to stop the Jageia, but he planned to live through the whole thing too. He wasn't the 'sacrifice your life for the greater good' type person. He was going to win, and was god damn well going to live through it as well.

He spotted his prize. It was up on the top selves that were heaving with precious jewels and weapons. It was sat on a small golden plinth just out of his reach; a black and red diamond-like crystal roughly the size of his fist.

"What exactly do you plan on doing with that?" a smooth voice asked behind him. Loki was sat casually on a pile of gold coins. Lakshmi ignored him and focused on the task at hand. He could probably try illusioning himself into a bird, but he didn't wish to show Loki what power he possessed. Finally he sighed, turning on his heels to glare at Loki, threateningly pulling a knife from a pocket and fiddling with the blade.

The man had black hair that was slicked back and neat, and he had forest green eyes that reminded him of Anubis. They had a light in them that heralded some form of private mischief and deterred from handing him matches or sharp objects. The man smiled sweetly at him and Lakshmi frowned.

"What do you want?" Lakshmi asked rudely, looking uncertainly at the man now. He noticed golden cuffs on the man's wrists and ankles. Was he a prisoner?

"Freedom," the man said bluntly, attaining a surprised eye brow raise from Lakshmi. The man felt strangely inclined to explain, and he continued, "The Allfather doesn't trust me any longer, and I am restricted to stay on Asgard. Frankly, I'm bored. The controlling hold that was on me has broken, and I no longer feel any need to destroy or conquer. I want to help your cause," Lakshmi held his gaze throughout the man's explanation, looking for any sign of a lie. No one could lie to him and get away with it. But the man's eyes held nothing but sincerity. If he had been a threat Anubis would have attacked on sight when they met on the bridge. Most canines had that sixth sense when it came to knowing who to trust.

"Fine," Lakshmi sniffed, moving forward and grasping the golden cuff in his hand. He couldn't believe he was going to force an illusion into reality twice in one day. He really must have a death wish. Why did he want to help these people? Why did they all have to be so god damn lovable? Luckily he had the strength of the crystal to draw from, and the cuffs shattered with very little effort on his part.

He waited for the dip in his strength and wasn't disappointed. He muscles began to tremble and he began to pant as though he'd just run a marathon. Loki looked at him in some concern as he panted, deciding to take pity on him and used his magic to summon the crystal to him. Loki turned it in his hand, watching the light fracture in the diamond like crystal.

"This truly is beautiful. This is a power source, no?" he held the crystal to Lakshmi who accepted it graciously. The affect was instantaneous. His skin seemed to glow; he looked generally healthier and brighter. He stood up straight, all signs of exhaustion gone and his red eyes glowed demonically.

"No. It is me," he said cryptically Lakshmi shoved the crystal in his pocket, heping his gaze trained on Loki's eyes, not breaking eye contact once. "Can you teleport us to the Bifröst?" he asked. Loki grinned.

"You underestimate me. I could take us to Midgard if I wanted, but yes, I will take us to the Bifröst. Hold on," the mischief maker grabbed Lakshmi arm, and the world began to swirl around them, reforming to them on the bridge once more, startling Thor and the four warriors.

Sa'ar and Anubis merely looked bored. Heimdall saw them and automatically returned to his post, ready to return them to Midgard.

"Let's go," Lakshmi said, hurrying into the pod shaped room. "Now!" he pressed, knowing Odin would have his hide if he caught him. They'd never exactly been best of friends. His recent actions had probably only made things a hell of a lot worse. In honesty, he was only stealing his power back, but he was sure Odin probably wouldn't see it like that. Thor bowed to Lady Sif and the Warriors Three.

"I guess this is goodbye again my friends. It has been nice seeing you once more," Lady Sif huffed angrily and climbed the stairs into the portal room.

"Like hell it is! If your brother's going, I sure as hell am!" she called behind her, glaring pointedly at Loki as she passed, who raised an eyebrow innocently in return. The Warriors Three grinned and jogged to catch her up and Thor looked ecstatic at the idea he could have all his friends with him and followed them joyously. Sa'ar and Anubis looked less than pleased at the prospect of five more Asgardians joining them, but held their comments in; choosing instead to look like someone was murdering puppies in front of them. Loki didn't look pleased at the four others joining, but his pleasure at being able to leave Asgard far outweighed his hatred of the four, and he continued to look as though it had been announced Christmas was coming early this year.

Heimdall looked at them all, then turned to Lakshmi and smiled.

"You look years younger Lakshmi. I hope your new life on Midgard finds you well," he bowed his head and opened the Bifröst. Lakshmi watched all the others go back through it, and was about to leave before he turned to Heimdall and said happily.

"You too, little kitten," he nodded, the not-quite-there smile gracing his features before he stepped through the Bifröst and his world was obscured by swirling colour and winds, not seeing the smile that cross the stoic guardians face as he left.

"Stay safe little one," the guardian said as the portal closed. He turned around and resumed his position at the doorway to the Bifröst, a smile ghosting over his lips as he thought how big a U-Turn the Illusions Master's life had taken since they'd last met.

* * *

***Unknown location, roughly 3am***

Zostar prowled around his captive, displeased. The nameless SHIELD grunt was gagged and blindfolded, hanging from the ceiling of the grimy warehouse by chains from his wrists. His capture had taken much more effort than was necessary, and it had irked him greatly. He would take pleasure is slowly tearing the man apart to glean answers from him.

He whipped the blind fold from his face and watched with a smirk at the terror dilated eyes darting around the room.

"Do you know why your here?" Zostar purred evilly. The man panted deeply in terror, and shook his head in the negative. "I need information. And you're going to give it to me." the man's eyes hardened and he growled in anger.

"No I won't!" the man spat, glaring in distaste at the Ice Varna prowling around his feet. Zostar's eyes narrowed and he stood up on his hind legs, surprising the man by phasing into a white spiky haired human with sharp blue eyes, wolfish ears atop his head and a long wolf's tail. He wore nothing at all, displaying his manhood with an animal indifference, rows of fur spikes jutting out along his spine the only coverage he had. He held up a hand, displaying rows of two inch long ink black claws.

"You seemed to have misunderstood me," he said dangerously, trailing his claws across the man's stomach, "I said you _will _give me the information. I didn't ask," when the man shook his head again, Zostar growled, and sliced his claws into the man's belly, savouring the feeling of the warm blood running down his hand. But he made sure not to make the cuts too deep; he didn't want the man to die yet. He pulled the hand back and languidly licked the blood off his hand with a satisfied expression. The man shook in terror and panted even harder.

"I need to know where the Avengers are based. It's so wrapped up in mystery that even _I _have not been able to find it out. I need to know where Lakshmi is." he growled. Recognition flared behind the man's eyes momentarily before he knitted his eye brows and shook his head defiantly. Zostar grinned. Oh goodie, he was going to make this fun for him.

He grabbed one of the man's hands and pulled it down. Due to them being still in the manacles, it pulled his body into a particularly painful angle and he gave a cry of pain.

"Save your cries for later. You're going to need them." he threatened, running a claw gently over the man's fingers, shallowly cutting the skin of his knuckles. He watched in morbid fascination at the blood trickling down his fingers, then grabbed the man's nails and one by one, tore them out, and pushed them deeply into the flesh of his knuckles. The man began to scream of in agony at the dual agony in his knuckles and the tips of his fingers. Zostar gave a dark chuckle and pressed the nail of his thumb deep into the bend on his thumb.

Tears had begun to stream down the man's face and Zostar growled in pleasure, letting go of the man's had and carving delicate runes into the man cheeks. The salt from his tears burned into the open wounds and he cried out even louder. The rune on the left cheek meant; traitor, and the one on the right read; betrayer. He meant it as a taunt if Lakshmi should b the one to help with the post-mortem to the body, to make him paranoid as to who had gotten information out of him.

"I w-wont t-t-tell you a-any-th-thing!" the man bit out, a cry bubbling in his throat. Zostar growled angrily. It was starting to get irritating. He did the same thing he'd done with his nails with the other hand, then with both feet, and stood back and admired his handy work so far, swishing his tail back and forth in some sick form of pleasure.

Both hands and feet were scarlet with blood, with his nails sticking out of all the knuckles of his hands and the bends in his toes. His face was red with the blood that had poured from his cheeks, and the stomach area of his top was drenched scarlet with blood. He himself had a good smearing of blood, the only difference being that none of it was his own.

"Now, I'll ask again," he said patiently over the man's low sobs, "Where are the Avengers based. Where is Lakshmi!" he raised his voice angrily. He _knew_ Lakshmi would be with those damn do-gooders! He had a habit of joining whatever the strongest law enforcement or protectors of the planet were. There was no reason he wouldn't be with them by now. He was sure of it. The man shook his head defiantly, although a brief look of doubt passed over his face. He was beginning to wonder if he should not just tell him. Good. That was the opening he needed.

"Tell me now and the pain will all go away!" he said in an oddly hypnotic voice. The man squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head. Zostar growled and grabbed handfuls of the man's top, lifting up slightly. "Tell me!" he shook him roughly. When the man did nothing but hand limply in his arms he roared loudly and ripped him free from the shackled from which he hung by force. There was a go awful squelching tearing noise and huge chunks of the man's had tore off as they were pulled through the manacles. Zostar threw him of the ground, quickly shredding the man's clothing from him to make sure he had no hidden communication devices on his person he could use.

The man lay, curled, naked, bloodied and crying on the ground, clutching the mangled remains of his hand close to his chest. Zostar knew he had to wrap this up quickly before the man bled out and all this work was for nothing. He knelt down and whispered in the man's ear.

"Tell me now," the man turned his head and glared at Zostar defiantly. "Give in," Zostar purred, carding a hand through the man's sweat and blood soaked hair before gripping it tightly and pulling on it slightly.

"Never. Not to a man like you." a rattling breath was drawn from dying lungs and the brave soldier moved no more. Zostar gave an enraged roar and stood up, kicking the limp body squarely across the room. He paced angrily for a few moments before phasing back into his full Ice Varna form and tearing his claws through the concrete of the warehouse floor.

A Jageia sauntered over and Zostar cast the arrogant pup a warning glare. He wasn't in the mood to be pissed around with.

"We were just wondering," the male asked in a distinctly cocky tone, "if you're done with the human...?" he left the question hanging. Zostar growled and waved his paw in an '_I don't really give a shit. Go for it'_ sort of way and the Jageia licked his lips and ran to drag to corpse away.

"Wait!" Zostar asked suddenly, an idea beginning to form in his mind. Make sure you leave the body in recognisable condition. And leave it somewhere the humans will find it!" the male Jageia gave an evil grin, understanding the plan beginning to form, and left with the body.

He didn't need to find where SHIELD was hiding in the city. He would just draw them out. He would deliberately leak information of labs hidden around the city and set a trap. He would bring them to him! The broken, tortured, and soon to be raped body of a SHIELD agent would only make the whole thing much more personal and spur them into action.

With an evil grin to himself, he sauntered out of the warehouse, blood staining his fur. He would steal some clothes and go out drinking in some human bar, get laid and celebrate his brilliant idea. Life was certainly looking up for him, soon to be looking down for a certain long haired prick.

* * *

**Authors note**

**Holy shit this was a long chapter! I added the torture scene at the end there to hurry the plot along a bit, as the next few chapters are mostly filler, but they contain too many details needed to the plot to leave out. I'm probably going to add some stuff to them to make them more interesting but my chapters seem to be getting longer and longer... gah! It's a bitch! Anyways, two more weeks and I break up for the summer holidays! Huzzah! So I'll have lots of time to work on chapters! Yay, I haven't had free time in WEEKS! Please R&R my lovelies!**


	6. Let Your Memories Grow Stronger

**Summary: **When an unlikely trio are called upon to join the Avengers, they bring with them news of an upcoming war on earth. Lakshmi leads this group, born with the ability to create illusion with his mind. Unfortunately the only one who seems to be able to get close to him is the resident God Of Thunder. Is thunder the only way to shatter the ice around his heart? Set post Avengers ThorxOC

**Warnings: **Swearing, violence, blood and sexual references Rated M because I like to swear. A lot. And there WILL be lemons approaching. Don't like it, I don't care.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the Avengers or any of the Marvel characters. Although we all wish we did. Because I would have all of the male Avengers in my basement as my sex slaves :)

**Started:** 6/6/12

**Challenge: **If you can tell me the title of the song I use for each chapter title in a review and the name of the artist, I will send you a snippet of the next chapter, the size of the snippet varying in length depending on how impressed I am with your review.

* * *

"Normal speech"

"_Animals talking. Only Lakshmi and other animals can understand this"_

_Memories, thoughts or dreams. Occasionally emphasis on words._

* * *

_Last Time_

"_Wait!" Zostar asked suddenly, an idea beginning to form in his mind. Make sure you leave the body in recognisable condition. And leave it somewhere the humans will find it!" the male Jageia gave an evil grin, understanding the plan beginning to form, and left with the body._

_He didn't need to find where SHIELD was hiding in the city. He would just draw them out. He would deliberately leak information of labs hidden around the city and set a trap. He would bring them to him! The broken, tortured, and soon to be raped body of a SHIELD agent would only make the whole thing much more personal and spur them into action._

_With an evil grin to himself, he sauntered out of the warehouse, blood staining his fur. He would steal some clothes and go out drinking in some human bar, get laid and celebrate his brilliant idea. Life was certainly looking up for him, soon to be looking down for a certain long haired prick._

* * *

Chapter Six

_Let Your Memories Grow Stronger And Stronger_

_Until They're Before Your Eyes_

* * *

***Bruce and Tony's (And now also Lakshmi's) Lab, about three weeks later***

Night had fallen on the Avengers Tower. It was well past midnight, and everyone was asleep, everyone that is, except Lakshmi. He was looking with a sort of morbid facination at pictures of a body of one of the SHIELD workers that had been brought in several days ago.

There were clear signs of torture all over the man's body and Lakshmi had a horrible feeling over whose work it was. At least, whose some of it was. The delicate runes on the man's face were a clear indication of Zostar's work. He enjoyed carving into his victims to 'mark his property' as it were. The deep gashes and clear sign of rape were more Jageia work. They too had tried to carve runes into the body, but they were the rough Jageia runes, lacking any sort of finesse or care that Zostar's runes portrayed. The Jageia had carved into the body just for the love of seeing blood and flesh, Zostar had carved because he wished to send out a message.

He was telling Lakshmi straight out who he was working for, but why? He had a long history with insane assassin, some of it good, most of it bad, but they had danced this deadly dance alone for years, why had he chosen now of all times to join the Jageia?

He growled to himself and rubbed his head rapidly in an attempt to clear his thoughts.

He was reading too much into this. Zostar didn't _plan._ That had never been his style. He was more of a spur of the moment type person.

But then again, he had never given any indication that he couldn't plan if he wanted too. Why shouldn't he plan now, if the situation called for it?

No. That man - creature - no, _animal, _couldn't plan. He was too far gone into insanity for that.

But what if...?

His thoughts flipped flopped like this for several minutes before he gave a loud cry of frustration and smacked his head into the table, leaving it resting there for several moments.

Why now? Why here? His entire past seemed to be converging to a moment soon in the future, and he was becoming less and less sure he would survive this.

"Shouldn't you be asleep?" Lakshmi jumped as the deep voice sounded behind him and he felt arms wrap around his torso and pull his body to a warm chest. He would deny it with every fibre of his being from that moment on, but in his surprise he made an incredibly unmanly squeak of surprise and promptly turned a deep shade or red, hiding his face in the locks of his hair in embarrassment. Thor chuckled and laid his chin on Lakshmi's shoulder and he felt the god smile.

"Probably," Lakshmi said evasively, trying to ignore how nice the warm body felt against his after centuries of no human contact. He fought to contain himself, not wanting to scare everyone away when they found out he was attracted to his own gender. It was unnatural and scared the hell out of his as to why he had this strange attraction to men and not women. He felt Thor pull back ever so slightly and run his hand over one of his shoulder blades. Lakshmi shivered as he passed over still sensitive, very deep scar tissue.

"Care to tell why a Kaame has no wings or antlers?" he said it in a serious tone, warning him he wouldn't back down in his effort to find out this nugget of truth. Lakshmi sighed deeply as he felt his heart and stomach freeze. Well, it was time to face the music he supposed.

"It was a punishment, for..." he trailed off, unwilling to say it and lose all of his new friends. Thor tensed up and turned Lakshmi's body in his hands to he faced the god.

"What could possibly warrant... that?" his voice quivered with suppressed rage, and Lakshmi felt his blood turn to ice. Had the man guessed his terrible secret? Is that why he was so angry, at him?

"They found out I was... attracted to my own gender. My mother pinned me down whilst my father tore out my wings and threw me from the house and left me to bleed to death in my own front yard. My mate saved my life that day," Lakshmi looked down at his feet in shame, but Thor held the man's chin lightly and tugged his head up so he could look in his eyes.

"I know you're gay. You told us, do you not recall?" Lakshmi actually blushed and looked rather ashamed of himself.

"I... no, I don't remember much from those two days. I was severely drunk for the most part of them. I hope I didn't say anything to stupid or revealing whilst I was intoxicated," Thor rolled his eyes at the man's stupidity and leaned forward slightly.

"As I said, I know. All of the Avengers know. Nobody cares what your sexual orientation is here, Lakshmi. You've landed in a very tolerant society. There will be some that dislike your taste in partners, but the most will be very accepting," Thor gave an almost cheeky smile and looked closely at Lakshmi. He was very close now, looming over Lakshmi, his arms still wrapped around him and almost nose to nose. "I certainly don't mind,"

Then Lakshmi's mind when blank as he felt a pair of soft lips pressed to his own. He was frozen for a moment as his befuddled mind registered the situation before he began to move his lips against Thor's timidly.

He felt happier than he had in years, Thor's massive body making him feel safe and protected. The god pulled back, smiled at Lakshmi's flushed and surprised face, the swooped down and picked the Kaame up bridal style, eliciting an undignified squeak from the man again.

"Put me down!" the man demanded haughtily. Thor laughed, recalling that was the exact face the wolf had pulled when he had picked _him _up.

"No. You need rest Illusion's Master. And I will make sure you get it if I have to sit at your bedside and watch you all night," he said with an air of finality and carried a squirming Lakshmi out of the lab, shutting the door silently behind him and taking Lakshmi through the silent tower.

About halfway up the tower (the lab was in the basement area and the rooms were on the top floor, as Bruce and Tony had a habit of creating a lot of noise with their various exploding experiments) Lakshmi stopped struggling and decided just to enjoy the soft thumping of the gods heart and his body heat. Thor seemed happy enough to have him snuggling up to his chest like a cat and chuckled as he felt the man's breathing ease signalling he'd fallen asleep. He must have been really tired.

Deciding on just taking him into his room instead of waking him up to ask the pass code for his own room, Thor pushed open his own room and settled Lakshmi on his bed, settling himself down next to him. He grinned like a Cheshire Cat when Lakshmi grunted and moved to snuggled against his chest. Thor sighed happily and stroked the soft hair of the man and dozed off smelling his sweet smell. He smelled of pine needles, flowers and freshly cut wood and something uniquely Lakshmi. Thor hummed, happy as he could be, and although Lakshmi didn't show it, he was too.

* * *

***Next Evening, Living Room***

"Movie night!" Clint crowed, looking enthusiastically at the assembled people.

Anubis, Sa'ar, Lakshmi, Thor, Sif, Hogun, Fandral, Tony, Natasha, Bruce, Loki and Steve all looked as if he'd finally gone insane.

"Err... you what?" Anubis asked in confusion. He had no idea what a 'movie' was, and neither, it seemed, did any of the Asgardians there.

"Yeah!" it was Tony's enthusiastic voice that cut through the silence, causing everyone to jump and look at him. "We can have lodes of snacks and booze, get hammered and watch lodes of movies! C'mon guys, we need a night off to relax! And trust me, I'm the master at knowing how to have a good time," he looked a little sly toward the end and Sa'ar brought his dirty mind out of the gutter with three simple words.

"No gang bang," Tony pouted and Sa'ar looked rather smug at the miserable expression on Tony's face. Lakshmi rolled his eyes, mind already drifting back to work.

"Alright then," Steve conceded. "It might be nice to relax for a bit and be able to take out minds off work," Tony grinned from ear to ear. If he had the workaholic Steve on board, he was set. Lakshmi frowned and an idea struck him.

"Why don't I create a Landscaper?" Anubis and Sa'ar immediately perked up and looked exited. Everyone else looked confused.

"A what? Isn't that some kind of gardener?" Tony asked blankly. Lakshmi raised an eyebrow.

"No, I used to use them to entertain Anubis when he was a cub. I create a huge illusion that makes it look and feel like you're actually present where I create. It'll like being _in_ the movie. And I've had plenty more adventures more exciting than any shitty movie you have here," enthusiastic murmurs rippled through the room and Lakshmi looked exited even if his eternally stoic face didn't move.

"Can you get your guitar?" Sa'ar asked enthusiastically and Lakshmi scratched his chin thoughtfully.

"I suppose..." he mused and huffed, Sa'ar and Anubis knowing that was as close as he ever got to a laugh. "Yeah, sure. Why not eh? I'd quite like to play the old girl again," he turned to Tony. "I get my guitar and the stuff I need and you get booze and snacks," Tony grinned like a big kid.

"Done!" they both tore from the room and exited chatter broke out. Anubis gave a loud happy howl, inadvertently getting everyone's attention.

"Man, it's been _years_ since Lakshmi Landscaped! He hasn't ever done anything like this in _ages_! He must _really_ like you guys," he gushed happily, wagging his tail manically and not realizing everyone had turned to look at him. "_And _he's gonna play his guitar! He's frickin amazing at it, aw man I can't _wait_!" Anubis was jumping up and down like a cub again, causing Sa'ar to give an angry squawk as he was bodily thrown off his usual perch atop Anubis's antlers. Loki gave an irritable groan.

"Can I not do us all a favour by turning him into a very nice fur coat? Or a nice rug?" Anubis growled at him and Steve looked irritable. The Super Soldier and the demon wolf had been inseparable for the past few days now, and they had grown very fond of each other's company.

"No you cannot," Lakshmi had re-entered the room and was glaring in a very threatening way at Loki.

He held in one hand a sketch pad and a diary, in the other, a beautifully crafted guitar. It was made of a polished black wood, with red seams and strings the colour of quicksilver. He perched himself on the back of one of the many sofas and played a low rift and tuned a few of the strings idly. He glanced at the Asgardians.

"This is mostly directed at you, but have any of you ever heard of my misadventures in the Crystal Mountains on Galifrey?" they all nodded vigorously.

"Yes!" Volstagg boomed, "It was my favourite stories as a boy!" he patted his belly and gave a hearty laugh, and Fandral gave a chuckle as well.

"That's before I met you, wasn't it?" Sa'ar asked. Lakshmi nodded, eyes briefly flickering to Tony re-entering the room arms laden with various goodies. He flicked open his sketchbook and diary, quickly read the entry and looked at the sketch, then positioned his guitar in his arms more comfortably as everyone settled around him and watched him with rapt attention. Lakshmi closed his eyes and the illusion began to form around them, all the while playing very quiet background music.

_Lakshmi was sat atop a windy mountain side with some unknown man, guitar in one hand, and a huge rucksack resting by the other. The other man had short brown hair flecked with ginger highlights that glimmered in the sun, and warm honey coloured eyes. Both of them had large wings that grew from the shoulder blades and antlers. The unknown man's were neat and tall, Lakshmi's still covered in fraying pieces of the velvety protective layer._

"_Say, Akella?" Lakshmi asked, languidly stretching out of the vast expanse of sky blue crystal mountainside._

"_Yeah?" the man asked in a deep velvety voice._

"_Do'y think it's true? Y'know; that Dragons live in these mountains?" Akella laughed and Lakshmi frowned, throwing a large chunk of crystal at his head. Akella caught the crystal almost carelessly and looked at the sky blue gem idly._

"_I must admit, this is the best gap year plan we could have ever thought of. Best to get off world eh? Lucky you're the best frigging engineer in the school. No one thought that battered old ship would ever fly, but you managed to get the old girl flyin' again. Told you that ship had a few good years in her yet," the man teased, looking at Lakshmi. Lakshmi looked at him for a few moments, before throwing his head back and roaring with unrepressed laughter._

"I never thought I'd hear you laugh," Bruce said idly over the noise of the illusion, munching on a crisp. Although he couldn't see any of the Avengers through the thick wall of the illusion, he could have sworn he heard a low chuckle from Lakshmi.

"_There are more replacement parts than old parts on that thing 'Kella! I'm surprised it survived the journey at all," Lakshmi laughed, shaking his head at the foolishness of his mate. Akella shuffled closer and pecked him on the cheek._

"_Naw, you love me really," he pouted, earning another amused chuckle from Akella who had picked up his guitar and had begun to tune it._

"_How about a song to wash away the weariness of the day?" he asked. Akella smiled and lay back to watch as Lakshmi began to play._

The illusion turned semi transparent so they could all see the real Lakshmi begin to play as well. He played for a few seconds before he began to sing in a rich voice full of emotion, a clear contrast to his usual tone.

_Looking like another relaxin' day_  
_Hitting from the bong like a diesel train_  
_And I'm down with hanging out_

_This afternoon_

_We got weeds in the back yard 4 feet tall_  
_Cheech and Chong would probably have smoked them all_  
_So I'm out on the couch_

_This afternoon_

_Beer bottles laying on the kitchen floor_  
_If we take 'em all back we can buy some more_  
_So I doubt we'll go without_

_This afternoon_

_At this point Akella joined in, singing raucously as the chorus broke, and Lakshmi sang along just as enthusiastically._

_Better hang on if your tagging along_  
_Cause we'll be doing this till 6 in the morning_  
_Nothing wrong with going all night long_  
_Tough to put the brakes on doesn't matter when you'd rather_

_Get up, go out_  
_Me and all my friends_  
_Drink up, fall down_  
_Then we'll do it all again_  
_Just sitting around, hanging out this afternoon_

_Landlord says I should buy a tent_  
_But he can kiss my ass 'cause I paid the rent_  
_So I doubt, he'll kick me out_

_This afternoon_

_Down on the corner in a seedy bar_  
_Jukebox crankin' out the CCR_  
_Had a few to Suzie-Q_

_This afternoon_

_Better hang on if your tagging along_  
_Cause we'll be doing this till 6 in the morning_  
_Nothing wrong with going all night long_  
_Tough to put the brakes on doesn't matter when you'd rather_

_Get up, go out_  
_Me and all my friends_  
_Drink up, fall down_  
_Then we'll do it all again_  
_Yeah, we get up, go out_  
_Me and all my friends_  
_Drink up, fall down_  
_Then we'll do it all again_  
_Just sitting around, hanging out_

_This afternoon_

_Don't want a wristwatch,_

_Or an alarm clock _

_To see what time it is_  
_From the moment I wake up,_

_I just love being with my friends_  
_We barely get by,_

_But have the best times_

_And hope it never ends_  
_We drink all day until we fall down,_

_so we can do it all again_

_It's not the human walk Its the human race_  
_If you're living on the edge you're takin' too much space_  
_So I'll doubt I'll figure out just what to do_  
_Bout to kick it around hanging out this afternoon_

_Better hang on if your tagging along_  
_Cause we'll be doing this till 6 in the morning_  
_Nothing wrong with going all night long_  
_Tough to put the brakes on doesn't matter when you'd rather_

_Get up, go out_  
_Me and all my friends_  
_Drink up, fall down_  
_We'll do it all again_  
_Get up, go out_  
_Me and all my friends_  
_Drink up, fall down_  
_We'll do it all again_

_Just kickin' around, hanging out this afternoon_  
_Just sittin' around, hanging out this afternoon_

_Lakshmi finished his song with a flare, causing both him and Akella to burst into spontaneous giggles._

"_Alright, we best get a move on and find somewhere sheltered before nightfall hits. I don't fancy becoming lunch," Lakshmi sighed but pulled himself to his feet anyway, brushing some loose strands of hair out of his eyes._

"_You need to cut that. It's getting ridiculous," Lakshmi tugged at his elbow length locks._

"_I quite like it. Reckon I can get it to the floor?" he teased lightly. Akella smirked._

"_Get it below your buttocks and I'll leave everything behind and elope with you," he laughed. Lakshmi laughed too._

"_I consider that a challenge," the two men laughed in a companionable silence, their hand intertwining and shoulders leaning against each others as they walked._

_A low rumbling growl echoed over the mountain side and the two men froze. Lakshmi froze and twisted the guitar in his hands. It melted into a blob and reformed as a curved and wicked looking two foot sword, with a red handle, black blade and silver wiring snaking around the handle to form the grip. Akella reached to an outside pocket of his bag and pulled out a silver axe with a blade the size of his head._

"_What was that?" Akella asked nervously. The air seemed to grow colder, solidifying until you could almost feel the danger in the air. Lakshmi shifted nervously from foot to foot, the shadows beginning to darken and transform into vicious looking demons as his anxiety grew._

_A dragon- an actual dragon- began to emerge from the shadows. The great beast was about the size of a single story house; with huge ink black scales the size of dustbin lids and glowing red eyes. Smoke poured from its mouth as it bared dagger sized teeth at them. They could see huge blood red claws glinting dangerously in the evening light._

"_Lakshmi," Akella said, beginning to really panic. "If this is you, pack it in." But Lakshmi had begun to hyperventilate, completely gripped with fear. He shook his head minutely._

"_Not me," he said in a small voice. The dragon grunted and lowered a head the size of a small car to his level and looked at him with eyes as red as his own. Akella could only watch on in terror as this great behemoth of an animal stared down his mate, knowing any attempts to attack it would only anger it and worsen the situation._

_If Lakshmi was doing anything, it seemed to have very little effect of the beast as it continued to stare him down. Credit where it was due, Lakshmi stood his ground, his terror now replaced with determination as he stared out the dragon seemingly locked in a battle of wills._

"_**What is your name, little one?"**__ the beast asked in a deep gravelly voice. Akella couldn't hear this however, he only heard the great thing growl and spit smoke rings._

"_**My name is Lakshmi. My mate is Akella. What is your name?"**__Lakshmi asked nervously. The dragon chuckled._

"_**No need to be afraid, little one. I only fight fights I expect to win. I could sense your extraordinary powers from miles away. I merely came to investigate the source of such power. In answer to your question, my name is Durza,"**__the dragons form flickered then glowed, and he shrunk down, until a small creature similar to a cat sat where the dragon had been previously. It had a feline body with along lionish tail, and a pair of large feathery wings where the ears should be. Its fur was still inky black and the eyes still red, but it looked a lot less threatening that it had done before._

_The creature chirruped and leapt into Lakshmi's antlers, perching there quite comfortably._

"_**I am a Dragonkit. We choose between the forms we have at will, but I apologize if my other form alarmed you. Travellers don't normal travel this way. The Time Lords haven't travelled this way for centuries and there are rarely any others,"**__ the creature explained, purring lightly as he looked down at Lakshmi._

"_Lakshmi!" Akella interrupted, looking very shocked and a little confused._

"_Ah yes! Akella, meet Durza; a Dragonkit." Akella's shock melted to fascination as he moved forward to stare at the creature._

"_Wow, I've heard of these. I thought they were extinct?" he asked. Lakshmi told him his question and Durza snorted._

"_**Tell him people are not so keen to see what they do not wish to find,"**__ Durza said contemptuously. Lakshmi relayed the message and Akella tilted his head slightly._

"_S'pose not..." Durza huffed._

"_**Enough. I sought you out in order to seek your help,"**_

"_**For what?"**__ Lakshmi asked in confusion._

"_**A terrible evil has been plaguing our village. A Dragonkit the size of mountain with all the strength of an avalanche. We need your help to defeat it, as no one else seems to be able to fight off its strength," **__Lakshmi smiled._

"_**Of course we'll help. I did come here to gain some new experiences..." **__he giggled slightly to himself, then told Akella about the situation. As he expected, Akella agreed automatically. The idiot had never been one for passing down an adrenaline fix. This was part of why Lakshmi loved him; he was fun to be around and never ceased to surprise. The Dragonkit took to the air, hovering with the wings on his head and looking expectantly at them to follow. The two men looked at each other, shrugged, and took a running jump spreading their own wings and taking to the air. Akella's wings were nut brown and paler underneath, Lakshmi's black with a red underside. They flew just behind the Dragonkit, their rucksacks left abandoned, Lakshmi still holding his sword and Akella his axe._

The illusion swirled into black mist then reformed seconds later.

_The sun had set now. They were landing in a small village of sorts, various Dragonkits in different colours running around the village in their feline form. Akella laughed as a few kittens ran over to them and began to gambol around his feet, tugging at the laces of his shoes with their teeth. A mother ran over and shooed them away, mewing something at him that Akella assumed was an apology before running after her kittens and ushering them into a small cave. Lakshmi was talking constantly to the Dragonkit in his antlers, and Akella was looking around in fascination at the organised society the small felines appeared to have, tucked away in the depths of the Crystal Mountains._

_Seemingly out of the blue, Lakshmi bowed to a larger than normal Dragonkit with shimmering golden fur. This effectively tossed Durza out of his antlers and the animal ran off into one of the cave chattering angrily. Akella looked around awkwardly, then bowed too, not quite sure what was happening. Lakshmi chirruped for a bit and the Dragonkits around them did too._

"_**So you're saying this purple dragon comes every night at sundown, ransacks the place, steals any kits or mothers it can find out in the open and flies away? And none of you can stop it?" **__Lakshmi asked incredulously. The leader, the golden Dragonkit, nodded._

"_**No. He is huge, abnormally so, and doesn't even attempt to fight. It just ignores us, so we can't even draw it away from the village. It just acts as though we are little more than annoying gnats. Can you help us?"**__ the leader pleaded, looking up at Lakshmi with wide eyes. Lakshmi hesitated for a brief second before nodding._

"_**Yes. I can, but I will need everyone to go inside the caves and stay there until I say otherwise. My... powers can drive one to insanity with almost painful ease," **__the leader looked hesitant for a brief moment before nodding in agreement._

"_**Very well. Please save my Tribe Lakshmi. If you do we shall tell tales of you for generations, and if you ever have need of an army, you shall have every fit warrior at my disposal under your lead," **__the Dragonkit bowed low and Lakshmi did too, tuning to Akella to briefly explain the situation. Akella opened his mouth, probably declaring he was going to fight before Lakshmi cut him off._

"_I want you to go underground with the Dragonkits. I don't want you to see this. It won't be pretty." Akella blinked at him, confused. Then he seemed to realize._

"_Oohh. Ah. I've never actually seen you use bad illusions before. I'm sure they won't be... y'know, as pleasant as some of the other ones you use," Lakshmi grimaced and nodded before ushering Akella into one of the larger caves._

_**Thud**_

_The sound of a wing beat pressed on his ear drums and he gripped his sword in slightly sweaty palms._

_**Thud**_

_It was louder this time, the force of it made his teeth vibrate in his gums. A loud roar pieced the silence that had been growing and a dark purple dragon appeared out of the clouds. Lakshmi had to swallow his scream of terror. This thing was gigantic. At nearly the size of a skyscraper from head to tail, and wings at each one roughly the size of its body._

_Immediately the illusion of the village ablaze sprang up, and he saw the dragon falter slightly, confused. It hovered for a split second before landing with a heavy thud. It swung its massive head around, clearly wondering where its meal was and roared when it saw Lakshmi. Lakshmi gulped loudly and the flames reared up, blazing hot and formed a dragon of equal size, that roared even louder, spewing black flame from its mouth. The other dragon stumbled back, screaming in agony as the feeling of flames licking him from the inside out tore though him._

"_**Why do you attack this village?" **__the fire dragon roared angrily._

"_**Why would I not?"**__ was the purple dragon's rebuttal, __**"These Dragonkits attacked and destroyed my home! Why should I not return the favour?" **__it bellowed back, lashing at the fire dragon. It roared and pushed the purple dragon back with searing hot bursts of flames. All the while Lakshmi stood at the heart of this blazing inferno, the pain of the flames nonexistent and invisible for him._

"_**LEAVE THEM ALONE!"**__ Lakshmi howled. The inferno peaked, rising into the air in a great column of fire. Shadows of demons and snapping jaws writhed in the flames. The dragon screamed and the body began to glow and shrink like the black dragon had. When the glow of the dragon had ceased the flames cleared, leaving an undamaged village and a cowering purple Dragonkit. Lakshmi chuckled and walked forward to pick the animal up. There was a moment's silence, and then the Dragonkits ran out of their caves yowling their joy to the sky. Akella ran forward and leapt into his arms, narrowly missing the Dragonkit he held. Lakshmi chose to drop Akella on his ass and kept a firm hold on the terrified purple Dragonkit. The golden Dragonkit bowed._

"_**I thank you traveller. But what will you do with him?" **__the leader nodded at the Dragonkit in Lakshmi's arms. Lakshmi stroked its head._

"_**Take him with me. Take him off world and teach him to behave," **__the gold Dragonkit nodded and bowed._

The illusion dispersed like mist, leaving Lakshmi sat on the back of the sofa holding his guitar, and several amazed Avengers and Asgardians.

"...wow," Tony said breathlessly, "That was just... wow."

"Your choice of language once again astounds me Stark," Loki said dismissively. "But that was rather impressive Illusion Master," Lakshmi nodded, slipping off the back of the sofa and collapsing onto it, the guitar slipping out of his hands to rest against the side of the sofa. Lakshmi looked exhausted. He was panting lightly and looked ready to fall asleep.

Anubis yawned, standing up with Sa'ar in his antlers.

"Thanks for the show Lakshmi, but it's like, one in the morning, and I'm ready for a good nap," the two left the room. Everyone began to stand up and leave, thanking Lakshmi as they left through their yawns and a few patting his shoulder sleepily as they left.

Soon only Lakshmi and Thor were left in the room. Lakshmi gave a weary yawn and stood up, slinging his guitar over one shoulder and proceeded to the door with Thor at his heels.

"That was spectacular Lakshmi," he complimented as they headed to their rooms. "I find it amazing what a life you led." he began to chatter aimlessly with Lakshmi plodding along beside him, nodding and agreeing whenever he felt it necessary.

Lakshmi was almost happy when he reached his door. He paused before entering, looking at Thor who looked back at him expectantly.

"Erm... do you want to come in?" he said rather awkwardly, for a loss of anything else to say. Thor smiled and entered the room behind Lakshmi, watching him intently as he put his guitar away. How had he never noticed the thing before? Lakshmi held it up, and Thor watched in fascination it melted like it had done in the illusion, this time reforming into a beautiful red and black dagger with a silver decorated hilt. Lakshmi stowed it in his bag before collapsing on the bed. He looked blearily at Thor who was still watching him.

"Enjoying the view?" he teased. He had that smiley glitter to his eyes again. Thor boomed a laugh.

"Very much so, but I'd enjoy it more if you took off your clothes," Thor joked, moving to lie next to Lakshmi, who grunted.

"I would, but I'm too tired to even move right now. That was no easy bit of illusion, I can tell you that," he closed his eyes lazily and Thor smirked lustfully.

"I can remove your clothes, if you wish it." Lakshmi opened one ruby eye to look at him.

"Sure," he said calmly, his eyes glittering brighter at Thor's reaction. Said thunder god moved forward, got on the bed and straddled Lakshmi, much to Lakshmi's surprise. Lakshmi purred as Thor pulled his top over his head and tossed it across the room, running his warm hands over Lakshmi's exposed torso. He traced a few scars. They appeared to form some sort of rune. A lot of them did actually. It was as though someone had _carved_ them into his skin.

"Beautiful," Thor murmured, now tracing the contours of perfectly sculpted muscles. Lakshmi blushed and looked away. He felt Thor brush some of the hair away that had splayed over his body when he'd lay down.

"May I ask, what happened to your antlers?" Thor asked curiously. Lakshmi sighed blissfully at the hands roving his body and answered in an almost lazy fashion.

"Purely a seasonal thing. I only grow them once every ten years, and they drop off again after about a year or so of having them. In fact, they're starting to grow now," Thor felt his head and sure enough, he felt the antlers and the soft fuzz that coated them. This elicited a loud wanton groan from Lakshmi and Thor resisted grinning.

"Are they sensitive?" he teased, running his finger up and down the small velvety antlers. They were currently only as long as his thumb, but this small movement alone was enough to make Lakshmi buck his hips up.

"Yesss," Lakshmi hissed, jerking his head away from Thor's sinful fingers and shaking it to clear it. "Can we please... not now," Lakshmi said, clearly having a much better hold on his self control than Thor did. Thor had just pulled off his shoes and socks and was working his zipper down.

"Why not?" he whipped off Lakshmi's trousers off him and stroked the insides of his thighs earning a mewling cry from him. His legs were just as scarred as his stomach and again more of the runes were carved on them. He stroked a few of them again, tracing them. Lakshmi suddenly sat up straight and grabbing his hand.

"Just... not yet. I'm an old fashioned kind of guy. I'd like to wait a bit," Thor paused, and then cursed his stupidity. The Kaame were known across the universe as a very rule heavy society, and although Lakshmi hadn't been with them for a very long time but he was still an old fashioned 'proper' kind of person. Thor rolled off Lakshmi, stripping himself down to his boxers too and lying down next to him. Lakshmi blinked, then opted to snuggle himself into Thor's chest. He'd been deprived of any sort of loving contact for so long; he wasn't exactly going to get Thor to leave.

Thor kissed the top of Lakshmi's head and wrapped his arms around him, twinning their legs together and getting comfy. Lakshmi began to hum what he assumed was a lullaby of sorts, and Thor immediately felt his eye lids droop even more. They were both asleep in seconds.

* * *

**Author's Note**

**This chapter is mostly a flashback, but it's kinda relevant to upcoming story developments so I can't really leave it out. Now, the song is called This Afternoon and it's by Nickleback. Also, the design for the Dragonkit's is based off XxFlightFeathersxX off YouTube. I believe the name is from her too, but I can't recall properly. My brain is a bit like a sponge; I pick up titbits of information from all over the place, mix it up, add to it, take stuff away, then throw it all onto a word document, so I usually don't know if I invented the idea or I've picked it up from somewhere. But check XxFlightFeathersxX out on YouTube because she's really good, and I think free publicity is a fair price to pay for borrowing her idea.**


	7. This Is A Call To War

**Summary: **When an unlikely trio are called upon to join the Avengers, they bring with them news of an upcoming war on earth. Lakshmi leads this group, born with the ability to create illusion with his mind. Unfortunately the only one who seems to be able to get close to him is the resident God Of Thunder. Is thunder the only way to shatter the ice around his heart? Set post Avengers ThorxOC

**Warnings: **Swearing, violence, blood and sexual references Rated M because I like to swear. A lot. And there WILL be lemons approaching. Don't like it, I don't care.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the Avengers or any of the Marvel characters. Although we all wish we did. Because I would have all of the male Avengers in my basement as my sex slaves :)

**Started:** 6/6/12

**Challenge: **If you can tell me the title of the song I use for each chapter title in a review and the name of the artist, I will send you a snippet of the next chapter, the size of the snippet varying in length depending on how impressed I am with your review.

* * *

**Reviews:**

**rEdRoSeSiNaUgUsT** – Yes, I too would very much like antlers. I would also like a tail, a big long fluffy one like a ring tailed lemur or something. That would be very cool. Or weird, depending on your opinion of it.

**Otaco – **Thank you! I always worry about putting little tidbits of other shows in my stories because it can either be awesome or it can go horribly drastically wrong. Glad on this occasion it went well!

**Spangledlemonade –** Thanks for your support! I like it when I get some nice reviews, and don't worry; I plan to keep writing this one. The next chapter is in the works, but I'm having some writer's block and the chapter is being a bitch. But I WILL get there. Eventually.

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"Normal speech"

"_Animals talking. Only Lakshmi and other animals can understand this"_

_Memories, thoughts or dreams. Occasionally emphasis on words._

* * *

_LAST TIME_

"_Why not?" he whipped off Lakshmi's trousers off him and stroked the insides of his thighs earning a mewling cry from him. His legs were just as scarred as his stomach and again more of the runes were carved on them. He stroked a few of them again, tracing them. Lakshmi suddenly sat up straight, grabbing his hand._

"_Just... not yet. I'm an old fashioned kind of guy. I'd like to wait a bit," Thor paused, and then cursed his stupidity. The Kaame were known across the universe as a very rule heavy society, and although Lakshmi hadn't been with them for a very long time but he was still an old fashioned 'proper' kind of person. Thor rolled off Lakshmi, stripping himself down to his boxers too and lying down next to him. Lakshmi blinked, then opted to snuggle himself into Thor's chest. He's been deprived of any sort of loving contact for so long; he wasn't exactly going to get Thor to leave._

_Thor kissed the top of Lakshmi's head and wrapped his arms around him, twinning their legs together and getting comfy. Lakshmi began to hum what he assumed was a lullaby of sorts, and Thor immediately felt his eyelids droop even more. They were both asleep in seconds._

* * *

Chapter Seven.

This Is A call To Arms

Gather Soldiers

Time To Go To War

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***Next Morning***

Sunlight filtered in through the large windows, throwing a patch of sunlight onto the peacefully dosing forms of Thor and Lakshmi. Lakshmi gave a little grunting snuffle and rubbed his sleep numbed face into Thor's chest. Thor was already awake; looking down at Lakshmi's sleeping form smiling lazily. Lakshmi looked up at him with sleepy red eyes and frowned.

"How..?" he seemed to realise. "Oh yeah. Morning," he groaned with a loud yawn. Thor chuckled as Lakshmi squirmed and rolled on top of him to hold him still. Lakshmi looked a little confused as he struggled to think though the sleepy fog clouding his mind.

"Good morning to you to, Illusions Master," Thor kissed his forehead and Lakshmi blushed lightly, giving him a distinctly cute expression. His eyes were wide and bright and pink dusted his cheeks as he blushed. Thor had to resist ravaging him thoroughly there and then.

Leaning down, Thor pressed his lips to Lakshmi's. Lakshmi was surprisingly agreeable first thing in the morning and pressed up to Thor, moving his own lips eagerly. Thor swept his tongue over the seal between Lakshmi's lips, and the lips parted, albeit hesitantly, and Thor slipped his tongue inside.

As caught up in what they were doing, they didn't notice Anubis and Sa'ar landing on the balcony. Anubis stopped dead in his tracks, his eyes blown wide and a mortified expression on his face. Sa'ar, however just broke down in peals of uncontrollable laughter at Anubis's expression. Thor and Lakshmi looked up at the noise and immediately both turned a deep shade of red.

"Sa'ar!" Lakshmi exclaimed, horrified. The Harros merely laughed and flew into the room, perching on the end of the bed.

"_How do you feel this morning? Sore?" _he teased. Lakshmi growled and threw his pillow at the bird. It missed and hit the door, surprising an incoming Hawkeye. He looked mildly surprised as the pillow fell away from his face, but that was nothing to the surprise that registered when he saw Thor still half lying on Lakshmi under the covers, seeming wearing nothing. He stood in the doorway from a moment, before Lakshmi couldn't take the awkwardness and slipped out from underneath Thor and scurried into the bathroom, still only dressed in a pair of black boxers. Thor groaned and stood up. He too was only dressed in boxers, and Clint seemed to be having trouble knowing where to put his eyes. Eventually he focused on Anubis who was still stood on the balcony looking as though he wanted to bleach his eyes.

Quickly closing the bathroom door behind him, Lakshmi ranted in his head at himself as he removed his boxers and stepped into the shower. He could hear Thor yelling at everyone for breaching their privacy, then drowned out the noise by turning the shower onto full power, making the water as warm as it could get. He leaned against the shower wall, enjoying the hot water pounding onto his back.

He didn't know why he was acting like this. He felt all warm and bubbly every time he saw Thor, and he felt... happy. It was distinctly weird. It didn't help he was acting like a blushing virgin again. He was several thousand years old; it was safe to say he'd slept around a bit in that time. But Thor felt... different. It was even different than what he'd had with Akella. His love for Akella was a warm, companionable love, this was turning into head over heel, just can't help it, love. It burned fiery hot, whereas Akella's love had felt warm and safe.

He groaned and tugged at his long hair, washing it through and sighing to himself as he watched the suds being sucked down the drain. He could also see the foundation he put over his skin to hide more of his scars draining away. The black of the rune tattoos was visible now, showing more of his deformities. He rubbed his face, washing away more foundation revealing a thin white scar that carved down from the bottom of his left eye to the middle of his cheek. The scars on his back where his wings had once been were now standing out prominently on his back in the heat of the shower as the rest of his skin took on a healthy pink glow; the scar tissue remained a silvery white.

He wore the foundation not to hide the scars from the outside world; an illusion would suffice for that, but to hide them from him. His illusions didn't work on him. He couldn't see, hear, feel, smell or taste them like everyone else could. He could see them in his mind's eye, but he couldn't see them unless he was using them to shape shift of forcing them into reality. But he couldn't get rid of the scars. He'd tried. Instead he was eternally cursed with their existence. And he _hated _it. They were a constant reminder. They mocked him. He had been weak, allowed people to mutilate him like this. But he had gotten stronger. The bastards that had done this would all pay.

"Lakshmi?" the door slid open and Thor stepped inside. The others must have already left, and Thor looked apologetic. "Sorry," he murmured, looking at his feet ashamedly. Lakshmi looked at him, abashed. He opened the shower door and stuck his head out.

"Why?" he asked, confused.

"I should have locked to door and shut the curtains and windows last night. If I'd have kept better control of my body I..." Lakshmi looked at him blankly.

"I was just as oblivious as you were Thor," he reminded gently. "That was as much my fault as it was yours." Thor looked up; seemingly ready to argue with Lakshmi, when he caught sight of Lakshmi's condition of complete undress. He blushed bright red, floundered with his words for a moment, then merely nodded and left the room. Lakshmi chuckled lightly to himself and tucked his head back in the shower.

When he returned to his room, dry, his hair freshly blow-dried and fluffy, Thor was gone but a note was sat waiting for him on his bed. He frowned slightly as he tried to remember how to read Earth runes, then realised these were written in Asgardian runes. This presented much less of a problem and soon he had the note translated as:

Dear Lakshmi,

My apologies for my hasty retreat, but the scientists sent the Archer to inform us that your messenger machine has been assembled, and they are awaiting your arrival to send the message out.

Sincerely, Thor

Lakshmi laughed in his head at the awkwardness of the note, amused he wasn't the only one trying to test the waters carefully only to be tossed headlong into its depths. He gave a languid stretch and wandered over to his dresser. He felt surprisingly awake for first thing in the morning, and actually managed to get all his clothes on in the right places despite the fact he hadn't yet had any caffeine to jump start his system.

When he left the room he was dressed in a pair of purple skinny jeans and a tight fitting sleeveless white top. He'd even decided to wear that collar Anubis had bought him for his birthday once. It was black with small silver spikes and a silver plaque at the throat inscribed with:

WARNING

PRONE TO SNAPPISH BEHAVIOUR

AND GENERAL BITCHYNESS.

APPROACH WITH CARE.

He remembered using this very same collar to attempt to strangle the wolf after opening it. It was a fond memory, and they both saw it as one of their more interesting scraps, and a turning point in their father/son relationship.

The lab was the usual sea of activity, exactly as it had been when Lakshmi had been in it last, except for the large machine sat on a desk Thor, Clint, Natasha, Steve, Tony and Bruce were now stood around. The other five Asgardians were absent but Lakshmi wasn't that bothered. Anubis and Sa'ar were also absent, but Tony and Bruce had banned them from the lab because they kept breaking things. Tony laughed at the collar he wore, and Lakshmi tugged at it fondly.

"Nice," Tony said, pulling on it, drawing Lakshmi uncomfortably close to him. "Never saw you as one for bondage," he said cockily. Lakshmi promptly elbowed him in the stomach and took a hasty step away from him as he saw the murderous look growing on Thor's face.

"So all we need to do now is get the thing running, right?" Bruce asked, slipping into 'science mode'. Lakshmi pulled a few wires out of the top of the machine and grabbed the black and red crystal off the bench.

Tony and Brice looked on in fascination as he stripped the wires of the plastic sheaths and wrapped them around the crystal like a spiders web and set the crystal at the top of the machine, and stood back to admire his handiwork.

It was a tallish device, roughly about three feet in height, and looked like a television aerial without the dish. The crystal was placed atop the device and glowed with a seemingly demonic light because of the colour.

"Yeah, I just need to tell the crystal what message to send out," he moved back to the crystal and cupped his hands around it.

"And how are you going to do that?" Tony asked, watching curiously as the Kaame closed his eye and began to mutter in some alien language. It was a fluid and delicate sounding language, very exotic and mysterious, and he spoke it in a very light and airy accent. The glow of the crystal began to glow and pulsate, throwing out different waves of colour now, so it looked as though a rainbow was surrounding the gem. Lakshmi stopped speaking, gritted his teeth, and the light pulsed bright white.

When it cleared, Lakshmi was sat on the floor by the bench, doubled over and breathing heavily.

"I... seem to spend... all of my time... exhausted at the moment," he ground out, looking ruefully up at Bruce who offered him a hand. Lakshmi took it graciously and allowed Bruce to pull him to his feet. Natasha was the first to speak moments later.

"What was the message you sent out? What did it say?" Lakshmi paused a moment before speaking.

"I sent it out in my language, but loosely translated into English it said '_Jageia are attackin planet Earth, this is the call to war,' _That'll get everyone assembling. They'll know it's me sending the message because the energy signature is unique because of my crystal," he looked at the machine. Although the bright light had dimed, a faint coloured aura still permeated about an inch of air around it, making it very hard to focus on the crystal itself.

"I thought the Kaame language was dead? You could be a highly respected linguist if you wanted to be, why are you a nomad?" Thor asked curiously. Lakshmi shrugged.

"I've been nomadic since I was twenty, that's when my mate died and I left my planet. That was… quite a while ago now. I never saw any reason to change my life style after a few centuries of travel," he said carelessly. If he was honest with himself he never saw any desire to settle down after he locked himself in his depressive downwards spiral and he'd only started to pick himself up about half a millennia after he'd lost Akella.

"So what do we do now? Wait?" Steve asked, looking at Lakshmi then at the machine.

"No, we shall help strike the first blow. They're Jageia living in this city. We will track them down and take them out," he grabbed at the air and drew out the hologram of the city covered in the dots. It had been edited since they'd last seen it, and there were now several flags poking up out of it. "These markers show where the Jageia are hiding. Sa'ar has been scouting for me, and they have research labs set up. Genetic experiments to create the ultimate soldiers. So we need to stop them,"

Everyone nodded and Lakshmi's eyes glittered with excitement. He jabbed a finger at the largest marker, causing the hologram to turn into a single building.

"This is the largest base, with about a hundred Jageia inside. I suggest we storm this base today, ensuring they won't cause anymore damage." There was a loud chorus of agreement that was interrupted by some unknown man entering the room. He wore a perfectly pressed black suit, and his greying hair has neatly cut and short. He had keen brown eyes and a rather large nose.

"PHIL!" the Avengers, minus Lakshmi, all rushed forward to greet and embrace the man, who was clearly important to them. Phil greeted them all with a quiet sort of enthusiasm, although he greeted Steve the most and winced at a rather tight bear hug bestowed to him by Thor.

"It's nice to see you all again too," he said after the greetings were all out of the way. He looked at Lakshmi and walked forward and proffered a hand in greeting. Lakshmi paused a moment to look at the man carefully before taking it, not letting his eyes flicker from the man's eyes. This clearly unnerved the man who stepped away rather quickly. His face as stoic as ever, Lakshmi bowed his head slightly in greeting, and he noticed the man's eyes hover briefly over the antlers just starting to grow out of his hair.

"Phil, wasn't it?" Lakshmi asked quietly. Phil nodded and Lakshmi nodded too. "My name is Lakshmi. I assume you're close to the Avengers?" Phil nodded, clearly still quite scared of the newcomer.

"Relax Son Of Coul, the Illusions Master is all bark and not bite," Thor soothed, giving the man a rather hard pat on the back, causing him to wince again.

"I'll bite you, then we'll see who's got no bite," Lakshmi muttered only just loud enough for Thor to hear him, as it was too low for human ears to pick up. Thor gave a lustful smirk and Lakshmi stretched out like a cat and prepared to leave the room.

"If you wish to attack today, let me know. Otherwise," he paused with his hand on the door, "Make plans, and we attack tomorrow at dawn." he left, leaving the Avengers with Phil.

"Is he...?" Phil left the question and everyone nodded.

"Oh yes, always. But he's a good man- er, alien- er... he's a good person," Tony said, sounding slightly as though the words were burning his throat on the way out.

"How long has he been with you guys?" Phil asked. He had been out of commission for nearly a year after almost dying. He could have been with them for that long for all he knew.

"About a month," Natasha filled in.

"What's he like?" Phil asked warily, still looking towards the door to see if he was still there. Little did he know Lakshmi was stood right next to him, completely invisible to any of them. He thought it was high time for a little mischief. Time for them to see what he was really like under all the cold attitude.

"Quiet," Bruce said absently, head buried in notes.

"Surprisingly has a sense of humour," Steve added.

"Pretty cold hearted on the surface, but nice once you get to know him," Clint put in.

"Rude," Tony sniffed.

"And a little bit mischievous," Lakshmi purred, becoming visible in a swift swirling effect like smoke. Well, he had to make it look a _bit _dramatic. The Avengers all gave loud yelps and Lakshmi had to retain a snicker of amusement. Before he'd been nomadic he'd always been one for mischief. It was about time he let his hair down, figuratively speaking of course. "Now, I don't want to break up the little get together, but Fury's storming around upstairs looking for you, making a hell of a lot of racket. Can you go talk to him; he's starting to hurt my ears," Lakshmi said wearily. Nick was actually upstairs screaming for Phil to show his face because he had work to do, and Lakshmi was finding it rather tiresome.

"Er, yes... of course. Nice meeting you," Phil said rather awkwardly, running out of the room. There was a moment's pause and the shouting issuing from upstairs ceased and Lakshmi gave a sigh of relief. With their weak human ears there was no way the others could have heard it, and the all took his relieved sigh to mean he didn't like Phil.

"Hey! Gave Phil a chance!" Tony huffed irritably. He had grown rather a soft spot for the man, as he was one of the few people that had ever made him speechless. Lakshmi frowned and crossed his arms.

"I don't dislike the man, I was just glad Fury had stopped yelling. I wasn't joking when I said he was hurting my ears," he spat angrily. "Now if you don't mind, some of us have work to do." and with that, he stalked from the room, actually leaving this time. He was going to smash the lab up the old fashioned way; on his own. Fuck the team, he'd managed all right before he'd met them, he could do this.

Ignoring the rather loud voice in the back of his mind that his life had been shit before he'd met the Avengers, he ran up into his room.

Everything was how it had been for the past few weeks; strewn everywhere. Despite his rather formal attitude, Lakshmi was a complete and utter slob. Clothes, wrappers, books and half finished experiments littered the floor. He'd sent Sa'ar out and gathered all of his old possessions from around the globe and brought them here, after deciding that he wasn't going to leave after all.

There had been some mixed reactions at this, but everyone agreed he could stay. Thor was ecstatic, and so was Steve. Bruce seemed exited he would have someone else to talk science with and Tony looked grudgingly ok with the whole thing. Clint and Natasha had been as reserved as usual but seemed relatively pleased.

"And what are you up to my little prowler?" Sa'ar had landed silently on the railing outside the room. "You look like you're up to something." Damn, busted.

"I'm going to bust that lab on my own," Sa'ar sighed in exasperation.

"Oh for fucks sake..." he muttered. "Figures I partner myself with an immortal man with a death wish. Fuck my life."

"Go away. I'm busy," Lakshmi said calmly, trying not to let the bird's tongue piss him off.

"And fuck my life hard," Sa'ar sighed again. "Look, if you want to die, I can find a much more creative end for you," he said in a business like tone.

"Who wants to die?" Anubis had just landed next to Sa'ar, fresh blood covering his muzzle and chest. He'd clearly just been out hunting somewhere. A seep by the look of the wool in his fur. Poor farmer would have probably shit himself when he saw him land in his herd.

"No one. Now shoo," Lakshmi said tersely, strapping his holster onto his belt and tucking his dagger inside.

"Fuck, where's he going?" Anubis said wearily. Lakshmi paused. Had he really become that predictable?

"Nowhere," The voice of Thor entered the room, soon followed by the man himself. Startled, Sa'ar let out a squawk of surprise, causing Anubis to jump. Lakshmi watched in a sort of vague interest as Anubis fell clean off the landing, Sa'ar shooting down to laugh at him as he descended.

Learning from experience, Lakshmi swiftly locked the door and windows and drew the curtains. He wanted his two companions nowhere near Thor encase they started making _very_ inappropriate jokes and Lakshmi clamed up due to embarrassment.

"I need to get that lab down, and you can't stop me," Lakshmi said stubbornly, glaring daggers at Thor. "I've worked for too long on this to let anything go wrong now!" he stopped as Thor stepped forward and cupped his face in his hands. He gave him peck of the lips and smiled.

"And that is why you must wait. Do this as a team. You've made so much progress with the whole trust area, you can't smash this whole thing open with impatience." Lakshmi was once again surprised with how wise Thor acted at times. It had only happened a few times in his life that Lakshmi had been left speechless, but this was one of those times. He looked up at those sky blue eyes and felt his anger and bloodlust melt away. He let loose a long sigh.

"...fine," Lakshmi muttered irritably.

"Good boy." And with that, Thor swooped his head down and claimed Lakshmi's lips with his own.

***Warning, here begin Lemons***

It had only been the previous night when Lakshmi had told Thor he wished to slow down, and then Thor had been happy to agree, and Lakshmi had been relieved he wasn't going to be pushed into something he didn't want.

But now Thor was kissing him fiercely with a burning passion, and Lakshmi couldn't help but to respond with a groan, wrapping his arms around Thor's neck and pulling him closer. One of Thor's hands twined with Lakshmi's long hair and tugged at it lightly, the other stroked down his waist to his hip, stopping to rest on one of his buttocks. Lakshmi groaned throatily at the contact, and Thor used the opportunity to slip his tongue into Lakshmi's mouth.

Lakshmi allowed his tongue to wrestle with Thor's for a moment before he pulled back to breathe. He threw his head back and took a huge gulp of air. Thor immediately began to nibble at his neck, unbuckling the collar around his throat and licking and the salty skin underneath, eliciting loud groans and purrs from Lakshmi as he edged them towards the bed.

Next thing he knew, he was lay sprawled on the bed with Thor climbing up his body.

"Thor..." Lakshmi groaned as Thor ripped his shirt off and licked a path up his chest.

"You have no idea how _hard_ it's been to restrain myself since I laid eyes on you..." Thor growled as he licked a nipple causing Lakshmi to give a particularly loud groan. This was just pure bliss.

"Yes well..." Lakshmi panted, his pupils now blown wide due to Thor's sinful ministrations to his chest. He felt him sweep his tongue over a particularly deep scar and the tingle spread all the way across his chest. His heart rate picked up quickly and he felt his jeans grow uncomfortably tight.

"You are you too... _sexy, _all the time," Thor growled again over Lakshmi groans.

"Please...!" Lakshmi groaned. Thor paused. He didn't think he'd ever hear Lakshmi _ask _for anything, and the begged plea aroused him greatly.

"Please what?" he asked teasingly.

"...fuck me," Lakshmi ground out. Thor grinned and removed Lakshmi's trousers in a single sweeping motion, tossing them into some forgotten corner of the room. The bulge was clearly visible through a pair of red silk boxers.

"Silk?" he asked cheekily, ghosting his hand over the area Lakshmi clearly wanted touching.

"Yes, and if you don't carry on what you're doing I will strangle you with them," Lakshmi growled through a heady haze of lust, sitting up to glare at Thor, only to flop back boneless on the bed once more as Thor palmed him. "You've still got clothes on," Lakshmi complained with a pout. Thor laughed and pulled his top over his head, let outing a surprised yell as Lakshmi tackled him to the bed. He attempted to get up but he swiftly felt bonds wrapping around him, sealing him to the bed.

"Hey!" he complained as Lakshmi toyed with his zipper in an almost considering way. Lakshmi sucked air in through his teeth to make a whistling sound and gave a thoughtful hum.

"Well you _did _tease me... perhaps I should punish you..." he tailed off and Thor groaned as Lakshmi pulled his trousers off, boxers and all, and looked at his length like it was a meal.

"I never pegged you as the kinky type, Master of Illusion," Thor bit out as Lakshmi ghosted his hand over him. Lakshmi scowled at him.

"Such language. I can see you've been spending a lot of time with mister Stark." he said ruefully, swiping a tongue over Thor's painfully hard member. "I'll warn you... I'm quite a _possessive_ man," and with that, Lakshmi took Thor completely into his mouth, and Thor gave a loud yell of pleasure and fisted his hands tightly in Lakshmi's hair in an attempt to keep some sort of grip on reality. Lakshmi chuckled, with only served to tip Thor a little further, and he bucked his hips up. This of course earned a reprising smack on the thigh from Lakshmi and a new bond holding his hips down.

"_Lakshmi!" _Thor groaned. Lakshmi smirked and lapped at the underside of his erection. Thor gave a delightful tug of his hair, encouraging the Kaame to play a little more. "I want you, _need _you," Thor panted wantonly. Lakshmi pulled back and let the illusion of the bonds to fade. Almost instantly he was tackled to the bed once more and Thor's tongue was so far down his throat it was as though he'd never left.

Lakshmi wasn't complaining. He parted his legs to allow Thor to nestle between them, groaning into Thor's mouth at the delicious friction created by their lengths rubbing together.

He allowed himself to sink into the lip lock for a moment before he felt Thor's hand slip between his parted legs. He pulled back ever so slightly, panting, eyes blown wide and his face flushed.

"I have to warn you... it's been a while..." he panted. Thor grinned.

"Do not worry; I will be gentle," he purred, pushing a finger into a temptingly slow pace. if he'd been in his right mind, he probably have wondered when and where Thor had gotten lube from, but in his befuddled state he barely thought about it.

"I'm not a bloody girl. I can handle a few bruises," Lakshmi spat, giving Thor a sharp kick to encourage him. Thor merely chuckled and added a second finger, scissoring him eliciting loud groans.

Thor looked down at his prize, proud of how wanton he'd managed to get the stoic Illusion Master. His cheeks had a wonderful red glow to them, his eyes were almost jet black and he was panting heavily. Inserting a third finger, the man below him gave a small sharp breath before groaning again. It seemed he had underestimated the pain tolerance of his partner.

"Thor... I'm ready, please!" Lakshmi begged. Thor removed his fingers and lined himself up, pushing in slowly. What he wasn't expecting was for Lakshmi's sinewy legs to wrap around his hips and push him in more.

"Are you sure it's been a while?" Thor asked, panting as Lakshmi pulled him all the way in. This earned him a light squeeze with Lakshmi's legs but his rebuttal died on his lips as his mind was enveloped with the sheer pleasure of being fully sheathed in his partner.

"M-move," Lakshmi panted. Thor had to congratulate him on actually being able to speak at the moment, but he merely obliged, pulling most of the way out before slamming back in.

Lakshmi arched his back and screamed as sparks danced in front of his eyes.

"Thor! Arkas mar saama!" he cried out in his own language, his current state not allowing him to speak another language. This erotic plea only served to arouse Thor further and his thrusts got much more powerful and faster.

"By the gods Lakshmi!" Thor panted heavily, leaning down he nibbled the length of Lakshmi's small antlers. This in time with a particularly hard thrust earned the loudest cry from Lakshmi yet and the man's hips bucked up to meet his thrust.

"Ertma! Uhaio ka!" Lakshmi pleaded loudly, his skin covered in a sheen of sweat and his eyes closed tight in pleasure.

Thor's thrusts became erratic as his climax approached and he moved to kiss Lakshmi fiercely as his hand worked the man's length.

He wouldn't hold on much longer, he knew that. It _had _been a long time, a few centuries at the least, and Thor was just _way _to good at this.

A sharp bite to his over sensitive antler way the final push he needed, and he came this a loud cry of Thor's name, his illusions sparking off all the way through the building, forcing many exploding vases and light bulbs into reality as he lost control.

Thor came not long after as he felt Lakshmi's inner walls tighten around him and he gave a loud groan and gave into his pleasure.

They both collapsed onto the bed, sated, sticky and exhausted. Lakshmi was a complete mess; his hair splayed everywhere and covered in sweat and cum dripping off his chest, and Thor was just as messy. Basically, they both looked thoroughly shagged.

"What was that language?" Thor panted. "Because that was so erotic it should be against every realms law," Thor turned his head to look at his now lover, only to see he was fast asleep. Thor gave a chuckle, grabbed a discarded sock to clean them up a little, before bundling Lakshmi up to his chest and covering them with the sheets.

"Love you Thor," he heard Lakshmi murmur sleepily. Surprised, he saw the man smile in his sleep, and watched how young it made his with a certain amount of pride.

"I love you too, little one," Thor replied, hugging the man tightly to him before joining him in his slumber.

* * *

**Author's note**

**Hope that went well! Bit nervous about putting a lemon up, so please don't hurt me. The next chapter is being a little bitch, but I have now officially broken up for the summer holidays! (Celebrates) so I will be able to get some more writing don now! Huzzah! Anyway, please leave a review peoples!**


	8. Nothing Is Sweeter Than Needed Revenge

**Summary: **When an unlikely trio are called upon to join the Avengers, they bring with them news of an upcoming war on earth. Lakshmi leads this group, born with the ability to create illusion with his mind. Unfortunately the only one who seems to be able to get close to him is the resident God Of Thunder. Is thunder the only way to shatter the ice around his heart? Set post Avengers ThorxOC

**Warnings: **Swearing, violence, blood and sexual references Rated M because I like to swear. A lot. And there WILL be lemons approaching. Don't like it, I don't care.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the Avengers or any of the Marvel characters. Although we all wish we did. Because I would have all of the male Avengers in my basement as my sex slaves :)

**Started:** 6/6/12

**Challenge: **If you can tell me the title of the song I use for each chapter title in a review and the name of the artist, I will send you a snippet of the next chapter, the size of the snippet varying in length depending on how impressed I am with your review.

* * *

"Normal speech"

"_Animals talking. Only Lakshmi and other animals can understand this"_

_Memories, thoughts or dreams. Occasionally emphasis on words._

* * *

_Last Time_

_They both collapsed onto the bed, sated, sticky and exhausted. Lakshmi was a complete mess; his hair splayed everywhere and covered in sweat and cum dripping off his chest and Thor was just as messy. Basically, they both looked thoroughly shagged._

"_What was that language?" Thor panted. "Because that was so erotic it should be against every realms law," Thor turned his head to look at his now lover, only to see he was fast asleep. Thor gave a chuckle and grabbed a discarded sock to clean them up a little, before bundling Lakshmi up to his chest and covering them with the sheets._

"_Love you Thor," he heard Lakshmi murmur sleepily. Surprised, he saw the man smile in his sleep, and watched how young it made his with a certain amount of pride._

"_I love you too, little one," Thor replied, hugging the man tightly to him before joining him in his slumber._

* * *

Chapter Eight

_Nothing Is Sweeter Than Needed Revenge_

* * *

***Lakshmi's room. 12:15pm***

Lakshmi awoke not much later on in the day feeling shagged out. He didn't ache; no he was too old for sex to still hurt for him, and even after sex pain was nothing to some of the pains he had endured, but he had a nice warm, relaxed sort of feeling. Thor was snoring quite loudly next to him, laid sprawled out across the bed. Lakshmi's lips quirked into one of his almost smiles, and he slipped out of bed and tiptoed to the bathroom.

He peered at himself in the mirror. He had quite a few hand shaped bruises on his body and a large number of hickeys around his throat area. His hair was sticking out randomly in all directions, and with the length of his hair, it made him look like he'd been electrocuted.

Turning on the shower and slipping into it, he gave an almost feline hiss as the water hit the various hickeys on his body.

"Damn it Thor... I said I don't mind a few bruises, I didn't mean try to eat me bit by bit," he muttered irritably to himself as he grabbed a scrubber and lathered it with soap. He scrubbed his body free of the accumulated grime and was attempting to get a difficult spot on his back when he felt Thor's massive arms encase him. He didn't jump; he'd heard Thor enter the bathroom, but he was a little surprised Thor had got in the shower with him.

"I could help you with that...?" he purred in Lakshmi's ear. Lakshmi gave a very pronounced shiver and leaned back against Thor's chest.

"Please do," he replied, leaning forward and placing his palms against the shower wall and bearing his back to the thunder god, sweeping his long hair over one shoulder. Thor scrubbed at his back in sensuous circles, his intentions painstakingly obvious, but he felt oddly mischievous and decided to play innocently oblivious. When Thor was done he stood up and made to leave the shower, only to find his front pressed up against the shower was and a tongue laving at the nape of his neck. Lakshmi gave a light purr and went to move his hands to caress Thor's sides. Thor was having none of this however, and pinned Lakshmi's hands above his head.

"I'm going to enjoy this," Thor growled, "And you will too." quivering at the silent promise, Lakshmi pressed his forehead against the cold tiles of the shower and purred low and deep in his throat. Oh yes, he was most certainly going to enjoy this.

* * *

***Southern Mountains, Japan, 12:52 Local Time***

A pale predawn light filtered in through the large window. The room was sparsely furnished, but well done, and what furniture there was clearly of Japanese design, and most of it looked old, and there were clear signs of repair to a lot of it. The people who lived there had clearly been there for quite some time, and hadn't visited any nearby villages of cities to get profession furniture repair or replacements. A small furry animal was splayed out of the window sill, snoring softly in its sleep.

At about the size of a cat, it had long hanging ears tinged a deep pink colour, a long furry tail also tinged pink and an elegant feline body shape. It snuffled slightly in its sleep, then swished its long tail around out of the shade and into the patch on sunlight in which it slept.

There was a loud series of bangs and a white furred canine creature about the size of a horse stumbled into the room. On the back of its head and neck and the joint at where his leg met its body were large cobalt blue feathers growing out of the white fur. A pair of large blue feathered wings grew from its shoulder blades, and large dark blue eyes darted around excitably. A long tail of deep blue feathers was raised in excitement and a blue tongue was lolling out of its mouth as it panted.

"Sammie!" it barked in an exited voice. It ran over to the dozing animal on the window sill. "Sammie, wake up!" the voice was slightly more impatient this time. Still the animal slept on. "Wake up you lazy bitch!" it snapped, annoyed now. When the animal continued to sleep, the canine growled impatiently and smacked the animal on the top of the head.

"Ah, fuckin' bitch!" the animal snapped furiously, bolting upright and its fur bristling out in a rather comical manner. "Alex! What the hell?!" she snapped. The canine, Alex, raised an eyebrow, uncaring.

"Get your lazy ass up!" Alex snapped, annoyed at her friend.

"Correction: sexy, lazy ass," Sammie quipped, smirking as she leapt off the windowsill, phasing into a small human as she jumped. Completely naked, and clearly not caring, she had an impish face, with a messily short cut patch of white hair with a jagged strip of a shade of almost hot pink down the left side. It had clearly been home cut, as it hung at varying and haphazard lengths all over her head, the longest strands only reaching her shoulders. She still had the long ears, now hanging to about her waist, and the long tail that lightly brushed the floor.

"Get dressed," Alex groaned, covering her eyes with a paw. Sammie chuckled and waved her hips from side to side.

"Naw, you can't get enough of this sexy ass," she joked, but skipped off merrily out the room anyway. Alex gave an exasperated groan but ran after her friend anyway, phasing into her own human form. A taller human female with the feathers and wings still place, and the upright crest of feathers in place of hair. She grabbed a pair of loose white linen trousers and a loose white button down shirt and threw them on as she ran after her friend, who appeared; leaning on the doorway dressed the same.

"So... what's the emergency?" Sammie asked casually, moving through the living room to see if there was any food to be found nearby.

"I've gotten a message," Alex said, running her hand through the feathers on her head.

"Oh, from someone you had hot sex with?" Sammie joked. Alex smirked.

"Oh, obviously," she said in a voice dripping with sarcasm. "No, it was from Lakshmi."

"Oh, the little gay boy?"

"That's the one," Alex said, shaking her head exasperatedly.

"What did he want? Did he finally see from our point of view and take up our offer to have hot sex with us?" Sammie purred, picking up an apple from the food bowl and taking a huge bite out of it. Alex shook her head and sighed.

"Get your mind out of the gutter."

"Aw, but the gutter is so much fun!" Alex chose to ignore this, and opted to answer her first question.

"He's assembling an army. I got the message just," Sammie's eyes glinted manically.

"Oh, sound like _fun_, we gonna go?"

"Pft, yeah. I've already called up and assembled some of the locals here on earth."

"Oh! Sounds like a party! Who's invited?" Sammie asked, tossing the apple core towards the bin and jumping up in mock celebration when it went in.

"Misfit and Mayhem," Alex began, counting them up on her fingers.

"The sexy twins? Delicious."

"Elak," she held up a third finger.

"Grr, don't like the pissy, crippled old nurse. She doesn't like me either." Sammie pouted.

"Tailless,"

"Mmm, lots of sexy men so far."

"Razor,"

"Oh, the strong, silent, sexy ninja."

"Tiberius,"

"Christ, not that psychopath."

"And a few others of whom I can't remember the names," Alex finished; clearly a little peeved at her friends interruptions, if not surprised at all.

"Well then, let's get going! We have to get all the way to America! Let's go give Lakshmi his army!" Sammie crowed, bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet, clearly full of a manic buzzing energy.

_Some things never change_, Alex thought ruefully, moving to pack. She would miss the nice Japanese mountain forest they'd settled themselves in. But she was sure all the exiting things were happening out in America, so that's where they'd be heading. Fun Times lay ahead!

* * *

***Armoury in Avengers HQ, Three days later, 12:01***

"What do you suppose is keeping Thor and Lakshmi?" Bruce asked curiously, tapping his fingers against the cold metal table he was leaning against. Three days had passed since Phil's return and the plans and battle schematics had been drawn up, much to Lakshmi's irritation they had decided to wait. Now it was time to leave and the Avengers were all assembled. Well, almost all the Avengers. Everyone but Thor and Lakshmi had showed, which was odd because they were normally the most punctual in the group. For them to be late was virtually unheard of.

"Probably shagging upstairs," Tony joked from behind his Iron Man mask, not having a clue how close he actually was to the truth. Everyone was suited and armed, and were just waiting for the last two. The other of the Asgardians were present, Loki even bearing his helmet which Tony had make a many number of joke about.

"Should I go up and get them?" Pill asked, looking around worriedly. He wasn't going to be joining them, but it was at least his job to make sure they didn't all kill each other before they'd even left the building, and to assure none of them chough*Tony*chough decided to 'vanish' or 'mysteriously' fall ill prior to the mission.

"Nah, any idea what could be keeping your brother Rudolph?" Tony asked, turning to an indignant Loki. Loki's eye twitched slightly at his newly acquired nickname, but he merely shrugged noncommittally

"No idea," he sighed, lifting his hands to highlight his cluelessness.

"You got any ideas?" he looked at Sa'ar and Anubis. They were both newly kitted out with top of the range Kevlar armour, Sa'ar had a deadly looking sickle shaped blade in his beak, and Anubis had a two bladed sword in his jaws. With their weapons in their mouths they couldn't speak, but they both shrugged to show they hadn't a clue, Sa'ar sort of half lifting his wings to mimic a shrug.

"Sorry we're late!" a breathless voice called from the doorway, and Lakshmi and Thor came rushing though. Thor was wearing his full Asgardian armour and holding his hammer in his hand. Lakshmi was wearing a jet black tight fitting suit make out of some flexible, rock hard looking hide, with metal plates of an obsidian coloured metal on his thighs, shins, forearms, chest and back, and a matching helmet to go with it. He held a long black and red hand-and-a-half sword in his left hand, and he was tucking his hair away with the right. It was Thor that had spoken, as Lakshmi looked neither out of breath nor concerned of any discord he caused, merely opting to quietly take his place amongst the fold without saying a word.

Bruce looked a little irritated, as he was the only one of the Avengers who looked as though he wasn't going into battle. This was because Bruce's powers were on a strictly 'only when absolutely necessary' basis, as the Hulk had a habit of destroying things he was supposed to be protecting, more often than not killing innocent civilians or soldiers accidentally. Lakshmi noticed this and use his illusions to calm Bruce. He liked the man, and in his own unique way, wanted him to be as happy and relaxed as possible. He saw the tension drain from the man, and he shot an appreciative glace at Lakshmi, who nodded in understanding.

"Are we going to go then?" Loki asked impatiently from his corner, fingering the blade of his staff. He'd been given it back under strict instruction he was to give it back after the mission. Of course Fury didn't exactly know about this. The Avengers trusted him - to a reasonable degree of course - but they hadn't _actually _gotten around to _telling_ Fury the God of Mischief was living here. There was a general murmur of consent and they all moved to the door, or in Anubis's, Sa'ar's, Tony's and Thor's case the window, and prepared to leave.

"Good luck," Phil called as they all left, leaving him on his own in a now empty armoury, aside from a professor Banner who was still leaning on the table looking grim.

"Yeah, if it all goes well I won't have to Hulk," he said grimly, standing up and leaving slowly. "I'll be in the lab if you need me. Hopefully you won't," and on that rather depressing note, he left, Phil following not far behind, going to go complete the mountain of paper work that was building on his desk. Oh joy.

* * *

***Unable to specify location, device interfering with satellites. 13:46pm***

Lakshmi pressed himself into the wall and vanishing without sound or effect as the Jageia passed down the corridor. It was as though he had never been. Smirking to himself as he saw the animals pass, he waited a brief moment until they were gone and dropped his illusion. The illusion of not being was a difficult one to maintain as there were so many factors to think about to make it work at all, so he could only really use it for brief periods of time when standing completely still. Invisibility and silence were easy enough, but Jageia had many other ways of finding him. The list was huge.

When the animals had vanished down the corridor he continued on his way. His job was a stealth mission; hack the hard drive and steal all of their data whilst the Avengers kept them busy with the fighting on the bottom floor. He had the nagging feeling something was wrong, but foolishly opted to ignore it as he ran to the control room, following the smell of warm wires and electricity; the tell tale scents of computer equipment. The building shook momentarily and he briefly heard a few notes of one of Tony's AC/DC songs from the lower floors.

'_What was that?' _he asked over the coms.

'_Nothing important Rapunzel, get moving' _came Tony's quipped reply. Lakshmi rolled his eyes and continued down the corridor, veering left up a flight of stairs when he head pawsteps heading towards him.

He jumped the steps two at a time, his breaths coming in short controlled bursts. He felt the air get colder. Distinctly colder. _Something's wrong!_ A voice screamed in his mind, but his desire for revenge completely doused his reason and he ignored the voice, not even noticing when his breath became visible and ice had begun to accumulate on the steps in small gritty patches.

He met no one on the steps and followed them all the way up to the very top of the building where he knew the control room to be. He should have registered this as something wrong, but the thought of revenge was clouding his judgement, making him hasty.

He burst through the door at the end of the staircase into what was supposed to be the control room, only to find a huge empty room spanning the whole of the top floor. The room was freezing. The temperature was way below zero, and Lakshmi began to shiver. Huge ice formations were climbing the walls, and a light covering of snow covered the floor.

Once more ignoring reason he ventured slowly into the room, carving fresh tracks into the virgin snow. Something was wrong, terribly wrong. There was a musky scent in the room, and it was hauntingly familiar.

"It's been a while Lakshmi," a slick voice purred. Whipping around he saw the Ice Varna, Zostar, perched atop a huge ice boulder, and he felt his stomach plummet. He should have seen it coming. He had way too much information for them to be accidental leaks. His desire for revenge had made him hasty and clumsy. And now the Avengers were all going to have to pay the price for his stupidity.

"It certainly has Zostar. Still stalking small children's nightmares?" he asked coldly. Zostar chuckled and jumped off the boulder. He was in his human form, yet he looked no less intimidating.

He was dressed this time, his attire similar to Lakshmi's but in shades of blue and white. He unsheathed a scimitar with an ice blue blade and twirled it in the air and watched the blade with an air of fascination; like a child in reverence of a new toy.

"You know... I'm not supposed to kill you. But the moment was just so... _perfect_, I just couldn't resist the idea of watching your blood pouring out over the ground," a manic light was dancing in the Ice Varna's eyes, and Lakshmi visibly shuddered. He knew the Ice Varna to be completely insane, but it never failed to scare him with just how far gone the animal was. No matter how hard he'd tried, he couldn't rescue him from the clutches of insanity... because the truth was, he _enjoyed _it. Lakshmi couldn't rescue a man who refused to grab the rope no matter how hard he tried.

"Zostar, please!" he begged. "I know you! This… madness, isn't all you are!" Lakshmi was starting to tense, subconsciously slipping into a fighting stance and his hand drifted slowly to his sheathed sword. Zostar noticed this; jumping onto him so fast his barely caught the movement. He hit the snowy ground with a _whomph_ and a puff of snow. Zostar pressed the sharp of his sword against his open mouth and sat cross-legged on the Illusion Master's chest.

"At ta ta ta!" he cried, pressing the blade at little harder against his cheeks as the hand moved towards the blade once more. "That's better," Zostar purred, easing the tension slightly on the blade and shifting into a more comfortable position. "Now," he said in a more business like tone, "Personally, I'm not too bothered if you live or die," he removed the blade from Lakshmi's mouth and moved it so it rested on his chin instead, allowing Lakshmi to speak.

"We both know that's a lie," the Illusion master spat vehemently. Zostar shook his head.

"No, blunt honesty there. I personally enjoy playing with you. I've enjoyed our game of cat and mouse down throughout the millennia. Bing and Immortal is such a _bore_ unless there's something to fill the time."

"You continue to surprise me after all these years," Lakshmi sighed in a distinctly weary way, falling slack against the snow.

"_But,"_ he pressed, a manic glint flaring even more in his eyes. "If you _are _to die, I want to be the one that kills you," he cocked his head to one side and looked appraisingly down at his prey. "And it seems our game is drawing to a close. Morpheus wants you dead, and he normally gets what he wants. _SO_… I'm afraid I have to kill you." He stoked the blade of his scimitar across Lakshmi's throat.

"He won't win. And neither will you," he lurched his hips forward and kicked Zostar square in the chest, sending the Ice Varna flying across the room.

He drew his sword and flipped himself to his feet, assuming a fighting stance and snarling like a feral animal.

"HAHAHA! Looks like you're going to make this _fun_ for me Lakshmi!" he crowed, laughing like a maniac. He whipped his scimitar through the air and charged, waving it around so fast Lakshmi had trouble keeping his eyes on it, which was the plan he was sure.

Ducking under the swinging blade he retaliated with a sweeping slash at Zostar's belly, only to have the psychopath jump back and slam the flat of his blade against Lakshmi's helmet.

It did nothing to harm the Kaame, yet it dazed him enough to allow Zostar a brief opening. He charged again, darting around to hide his true objective.

It was instinctual, yet it was a huge mistake. Lakshmi threw out an illusion of a blinding light in a bid to protect himself instead of raising his arms or dodging.

The blade sliced straight across his stomach, from his right hip to left shoulder. Lakshmi screamed out in agony over Zostar's crazed laugh.

"Your tricks can't fool a shattered mind Lakshmi!" the Ice Varna howled, eyes glowing as he watched his opponent bleeding out over the floor, blade inches from his fingers were it had fallen. He sauntered over, raising his head above his head to strike a killing blow.

"No. But you forget one thing…." Lakshmi panted, eyes glittering dangerously.

"Oh? And what is that?" he purred, dropping into a crouch next to Lakshmi's bleeding body.

"We were _both_ trained by a psychopath." He breathed out. Zostar registered his meaning milliseconds to late, just as sharpened canines sank into his exposed throat.

Lakshmi closed his eyes tight as he bit as hard as he could on Zostar's windpipe, trying his hardest not to think about the fact he enjoyed the taste. The building rumbled as the fighting below reached its intensity, but Lakshmi hardly registered it.

He stood up, blood running down his face, looking down at the corpse of his once best friend. He felt a loss, deep and raw, and it burned with a low fire in his stomach.

"I'm sorry Zostar…" he sighed, turned round with a swift intent to the door. He would send Morpheus to his death. He had driven Zostar to this.

Had he left the room a few seconds later, he would have seen Zostar staggering to his feet, blood streaming down his throat, murder written in his eyes.

* * *

***Location still unknown***

The fighting was raging on the bottom most floor of the tower.

Iron Man ducked and sent a blast at the Jageia that had flown over his head. The animal flew across the room and git the opposite wall. Its fur was smoking slightly, but it stood up, completely uninjured.

All of the Avengers were having a similar problem. They could hit these creatures with bullets or hammer, energy blasts, but nothing seemed to be able to do any damage.

Only Anubis's teeth and claws had been able to split their hide, and he was leaving a trail of red behind him as he fought. But he was beginning to tire, and when he was down they would have to form of attack.

Clint was on top of a bookshelf in the far corner, firing arrows at anything that wasn't a SHIELD agent or an Avenger.

"THOR!" Iron Man bellowed, punching a Malainos in the beak, sending the metal bird soaring though the air.

"WHAT?" Thor bellowed back, giving his hammer an almighty swing, hitting the oncoming Jageia so hard it was actually hit through the wall, leaving a good sized hole and a great deal of rubble behind it.

"How do we kill these things?! We can only fight like this for so long!" he panted, ducking as what appeared to be a mace flew through the air. Only when it hit the opposite wall with a sickening squelch did he realise it was a Jageia head.

"Bite 'em!" Anubis howled, before launching himself at a Jageia that had been making a b-line for the Black Widow and grabbing hold of its tails and pulling at them to rip out its spine.

Tony let out a yell of annoyance and shot another energy blast at a passing Malainos.

The clamour of battle was drowned out by the sound of what seemed like a conch horn.

"PLAY TIME!" two voices called out in a sing song tone, and two black flashes shot in through the hole in the wall, swiftly followed by an odd assortment of various creatures.

"Misfit, Mayhem!" Anubis called happily as the black flashes ran through the battle, cutting the throats of any enemies they passed.

Chaos had erupted now. Blood was flying as the new recruits attacked, and the Avengers were pushed back to the sidelines, pushing any attempting to flee back into the throng.

Biting down on a Malainos skull, Anubis allowed his legs a moment's respite of standing still, before he felt the bird still between his teeth and jumping back into the throng. He was thanking any gods out there for the enforcements that had arrived. He supposed Lakshmi's message had gotten out faster than expected. Misfit and Mayhem were in Australia last he'd heard. He was glad the two were here though; they were demons in battle, yet were the biggest pranksters he'd ever met.

"G'day!" an Australian accented voice called, and the owner came, skidding to a halt in front of him. Black furred, the creature resembled a jackal, but was much more angular and elegant looking. Its eyes were bright yellow, and its muzzle glimmered wetly in the electric lighting.

"Misfit!" Anubis greeted. Misfit cocked a head in greeting too, and flung his hind leg out to kick an oncoming Jageia in the throat.

"How many is there?" he asked curiously, humour the ever present emotion on his muzzle. "Doesn't seem to be as few as you were expecting, is there? More here than you would expect in a facility this big," ah, good old Misfit; straight to the point.

"We think they may have been expecting us. We got in way to easily; it was a planned ambush," Anubis said ruefully, flicking his head to one side and tasting blood as his attackers throat was cut.

"Ah, bummer. Best be off, happy hunting," the jackal creature winked and disappeared into the bloodshed.

"Quit gossiping!" a voice called as the other jackal creature passed, winking at him too, aiming for the Malainos that had just flown in low to claw at Thor's head.

"ENOUGH!" a voice roared. There was a moment's mad scramble, then two defined sides formed; the Avengers and their new helpers on one side, and the Jageia and the Malainos on one side.

A huge Jageia was stood at the head of the group. He must have been some sort of general, as the soldiers nearest to him were all looking at him with reverent bordering on fear.

Stood at the head of their group was Anubis, blade now gone, many bits of armour also missing, bloody but standing. A low caw announced the arrival of Sa'ar, who perched as ever in his antlers, his sickle like blade still clamped in his beak, wings raised threateningly.

A Malainos perched on one of the Jageia's spikes, hissing a bit like an angry cat.

"I believe this would be better solved another way," the Jageia growled, eyes glinting like chips of violet ice.

"I don't," Anubis countered. "Any alternative _you _can come up with will most likely end up with us all being dead," he hissed. The Jageia cocked his head and looked appraisingly at the wolf.

"You speak of our species as though we are all likely to kill you all at any given moment," he said quietly.

"You are!" there was a flurry of movement and the two Jackal creatures appeared on either side of Anubis, both were wet with blood and growling, hackles raised. The general threw his head back and laughed, then stopped abruptly, eyes growing wide and eyes darting around in fear.

"NO!" there was a shuddered that passed through every one of the Jageia and Malainos, and then a scream ripped through the hush. They all started to cower and some actually began to tear at their eyes.

"What on earth is going on!?" Tony had pushed through the crowd to stand near him; his face plate up to Anubis could see the horror clouding his vision.

"Lakshmi," Anubis whispered, seeing the man himself appear from the stair well, eyes glowing demonically and his long ponytail whipping around behind him. He was casting a powerful illusion over the Jageia and Malainos. Whatever it was it was so bad that many of the Jageia were committing suicide, and the Malainos were all attacking each other in a terrified frenzy.

"What are you showing them?" Thor had appeared at Lakshmi's head, and although Lakshmi didn't actually register Thor's existence, he still answered. One word that caused terror to rip down Thor's spine.

"Everything." he whispered, eyes glowing bright.

"LAKSHMI!" a voice bellowed. It was the general. He gave an enraged roar and charged forward, attacking the thing that was nearest to him. Tony. Tony gave a surprised yell, and then a cry of agony as the sabre teeth pieced though his armour around his neck. The illusion broke with an audible shatter, and the Jageia and Malainos that could still move all ran for the door, screaming in terror.

"TONY!" it was the cry on all the Avengers lips as they rushed forward. But the general had already tossed the writhing body of the Iron Man into a far corner.

"This was fun Lakshmi. We should do it again sometime. Move out!" the command to leave was pointless, as most of his troops had all ready run off, but it gave him an authoritive appearance, as he ran through the hole in the wall, his three tails held out high behind him.

Steve was fumbling blindly around Tony's neck, trying to find pieces of loose armour so he could remove the whole thing. It looked like a ground in mesh around his throat, but by whatever miracle, his windpipe hadn't collapsed, and he was still breathing.

"Get the armour away from his throat!" Steve whispered in terror, picking sharp fragments away from the wound. The newcomers had all backed away respectfully, all except Misfit, Mischief, and an unknown creature sat at Tony's head, looking down at him. It had a roughly feline with body with slightly overlarge paws. A canine head was at the end of an oddly upright neck for an animal, and it had a forehead like a human. The ears were large and bat-like, and perked forward in interest. Huge feathery wings grew from each shoulder, and the spine tapered down into a long feline tail ending in a fork. She had deep chocolate fur and keen yellow eyes. She may once have been beautiful, if it were not for the heavy scarring that littered her body. Her left ear had several large chunks missing from it, and the right was completely missing, torn off at the skull. Her left hind leg was almost completely bald with silvery scars, and so was the front of her throat. She was looking down at Tony with an almost... appraising gaze.

"It won't do any good!" Lakshmi growled furiously, pacing back and forth in irritation. "The poison will kill him before the wound does!" he threw his sword at an opposite wall in frustration. The whole blade sank into the wall and the handle quivered there.

"Is there a cure?" Hawkeye asked quietly from where he was crouched at Tony's feet next to Natasha. Lakshmi shook his head, accidently whipping Steve in the face with his ponytail as he paced.

"No! It needs a stabilizer. Something that won't react badly with his arc reactor. Something quite potent to combat the poison. It has to be volatile to mix readily with his blood. DNA. Something..." he trailed off, still pacing, rubbing his scalp furiously and growling.

"Think of something!" Steve demanded. Lakshmi stopped dead and proceeded to yell in Steve's face.

"I'M FUCKING TRYING!" he drew back and continued to pace furiously.

"Would I be of service?" the creature sat at Tony's head asked in a raspy female voice. She sounded old, and she looked up at Lakshmi with a harsh gaze. "I believe _my_ blood would fit the bill," she blinked deliberately at the suspicious gazes she was being shot to show she didn't really care, then with practiced ease, then drew back on her haunches and began to pull the metal loose.

When the injury was clear, she rasped a tongue across it to clear the blood so she could inspect the damage. Whilst she was looking at the jagged wound she chatted aimlessly, clearly with no other objective other than to fill the silence.

"I suppose I should introduce myself..." she muttered, nudging a loose flap of skin back into place. "I believe that's what 'curtsey' says... Name's Elak. I'm a Varg, and a technopath. I believe that is what humans call what I can do. I _talk_ to machinery. Rather fun," she sighed and pressed on the wound, giving a satisfied grunt when Tony gave a low keen in pain. "Bingo," she muttered, raising a paw and slicing her wrist with the claws of her opposite paw. She watched with an almost morbid fascination at the crimson blood that began to flow, dripping steadily into Tony's open neck wound. The blood hissed as it met Tony's. The man screamed.

Anubis was watching on, sympathetic. He remembered those screams; they were the screams he'd made when he'd gone through the bone wreching pain of DNA transfusion and transformation. It had felt like he was being boiled from the inside out.

"Oi, what's with 'im?" a obnoxiously loud, deep female voice sounded close to his ear and he turned to see a white furred, blue feathered, winged canine trotting over, a fluffy long eared feline sitting on her shoulders.

"Never you mind," Anubis said curtly, hoping to deflect any further contact with this strange individual. He winced as another scream tore through the air, and felt the shadows tug at his paws a little, hinting at Lakshmi's obvious distress at not being able to do anything.

"Eep, that sounds painful," the canine commented blandly. "Name's Alex. This lazy shit's Sammie," she rolled her shoulders slightly to indicate the feline on her shoulders, which Anubis now realised, was sleeping rather soundly, even though he'd seen the fluffy thing dispatching her opponents with an undiluted ferocity not two minutes ago. Cats.

"Anubis," Anubis said cautiously. This stranger was weird. She wasn't dancing around formal greetings or making an effort for first impressions.

"Weird name. Nice, but a bit unusual. Egyptian god of the dead, right?" Alex said casually, not taking her eyes off Tony, apparently transfixed. Anubis blinked at her forthright blunt honesty.

"Yeah..." he said, uncertain. "I like my name," he added, defensively. Alex gave him a rather patronising smile.

"That's nice," she soothed, as though she was talking to a rather stupid child.

* * *

**Author's Note**

**Sorry for the delay on this one guys, but this chapter was a bitch for some unknown reason, and I've been a bit busy. Holidays, work, yada yada yada, the usual shit, BUT I got it done... eventually. Reviews will speed things along guys, and I'm going to need them cuz I'm feeling really uninspired for the next chapter as I have no idea what I'm going to write about. Oh well, I'll get it done eventually.**


	9. All Systems Go, The Sun Hasn't Died

**Summary: **When an unlikely trio are called upon to join the Avengers, they bring with them news of an upcoming war on earth. Lakshmi leads this group, born with the ability to create illusion with his mind. Unfortunately the only one who seems to be able to get close to him is the resident God Of Thunder. Is thunder the only way to shatter the ice around his heart? Set post Avengers ThorxOC

**Warnings: **Swearing, violence, blood and sexual references Rated M because I like to swear. A lot. And there ARE lemons and m/M relationships in this fic. If you don't like it and are still reading, I think you need to search up a phenomenon called 'denial'

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the Avengers or any of the Marvel characters. Although we all wish we did. Because I would have all of the male Avengers in my basement as my sex slaves :)

**Started:** 6/6/12

**Challenge: **If you can tell me the title of the song I use for each chapter title in a review and the name of the artist, I will send you a snippet of the next chapter, the size of the snippet varying in length depending on how impressed I am with your review.

* * *

"Normal speech"

"_Animals talking. Only Lakshmi and other animals can understand this"_

_Memories, thoughts or dreams. Occasionally emphasis on words._

* * *

**Reviews:**

**moose2247: **thank you so very much! I try my best, and inspiration always comes to me eventually, hence the late update. I'm a very inconsistent writer. Sometimes you can get sever updates a week, then you can get nothing for several months. Sorry.

**spangledlemonade: **thank you! But I really don't think this is quite movie material. Oh well, it would beat Twilight ;)

**Miriomin: **Thanking you! I like to know my OCs get the seal of approval. They _do _come from my mind, so they will be fucked up and a little weird, but I'm glad you like them!

**Imaybesomeone: **Thank you for your feedback, and well done for spotting the Inheritance comment! You shall be showered with fangirl praise. Thinking about it, if we're honest, it's quite obvious no one owns anything but the plot and their OCs on this site, as it is a _fanfiction _site. Oh well, I can dream of owning the Avengers and Inheritance and being extremely wealthy. Then back to reality, not quite as good. The whole idea of Anubis changing was developed later on, and will be developed even more in this chapter, and the idea his colouring matches that of Lakshmi is that he is fused with his DNA, so for all intents and purposes, Anubis is Lakshmi's son. I don believe I've touched on this briefly, if not, I meant to. Weaknesses; I showed them off in the previous chapter, explained them a little more in this chapter. I tend to take a long time to develop my stories, and I apologise for this. No need to apologise for the constructive criticism, and I'm sorry; I don't do betas. They create more work and I only do this for fun. Also I'd be a very frustrating person to work with. I normally have no idea what the chapters going to entail until I sit down and write it. Longest reply ever, moving on to the next review!

**ateambirdie: **Woo! Someone has awesome taste in music! Yes it is, but I listened to the Miser version, but I found the Cranberries version after I posted this one and liked it more. If anyone guesses the chapter title of this one I would actually love them for eternity. This band needs more recognition.

* * *

Chapter Nine

All Systems Go

The Sun Hasn't Died

* * *

***Avenger's HQ Medical Facility, Room 14, 05:12AM***

His body felt heavy and sluggish. His arms were two dead weights and he felt as though Thor had dumped Mjolnir on his chest recently. Only the soft thrum of the Arc Reactor and the less pronounced pumping of his heart told him he was alive. Tony could feel the burn in his throat as though someone had fed him lava.

Tony let out a low groan, so low the humans in the room couldn't hear it. Unfortunately, Lakshmi was currently in the room, so he heard the groan immediately and decided to announce this fact.

"He's conscious," he declared in his usual, I-Don't-Really-Want-To-Talk-To-You monotone.

"Fully?" a random voice asked. Must be one of the doctors, Tony thought absently. He never had learnt any of the names of the doctors. He'd learnt the names of the nurses, if only in a roundabout way.

"What am I, physic?" Lakshmi sniped. "I just heard him groan, you check. I'm not getting paid for this, you do it," he sounded pissed. And tired.

"Haha! You've not changed at all," a raspy voice said close to Tony's ear.

"You neither, Elak," Lakshmi sighed. There was the sound of a biro scratching on paper, so he must be writing some notes down or something.

"You say that as though it's a bad thing," the voice sounded old, and definitely female, although it had a rough, grating quality to it, as though the owner had some damage to the throat or something. Tony remembered the name, if only slightly.

"Not at all Elak, not at all," Lakshmi said absently. The sound of his footsteps grew closer and Tony groaned again. No, leave him alone, let him sleep.

Of course, Lakshmi didn't and he felt the Illusion Master prod him with the end of his pen. "You either stop pretending now Anthony, or I scare the shit out of you to get you to stop. Your choice."

That got him to open his eyes. The world seemed really hazy. And bright. Had the world always been this bright? He didn't like it. Where were his sunglasses, he needed them.

"Oh..." he groaned, pushing himself into a sitting position and rubbing his throat. It felt as though someone had tried to rip it out. What the hell had happened to him? The past even that had happened to him were a foggy haze. "What the hell happened?" he complained, voicing his most recent train of thought and most pressing problem. Ow; it really hurt to talk.

"A Jageia tried to tear out your throat. You nearly died to the poison. Elak here saved your life," Lakshmi said in what could only be said as a gentle version of his monotone drawl. Tony turned his head to where Lakshmi was pointing and let out a startled yelp. A brown furred animal with harsh yellow eyes glared back at him.

"Hmph. No need to be so rude," Elak complained. Once Tony had gotten over the shock of seeing this odd creature, he smiled. Or at least tried too; his face felt really stiff and several cuts on his face made the whole process extremely painful, so in the end it just turned into a twisted grimace of pain. Elak cocked her head in understanding.

Lakshmi was looking at him in an odd way. Like a scientist observing a chemical reaction about to go off. It was quite unnerving.

"...what?" he asked nervously, meeting the red eyed gaze with a certain amount of apprehension. The red eyes in question narrowed ever so slightly, then the man merely tossed some of his hair behind his back and moved off to tap at a computer screen.

Tony looked at Elak next, who seemed extremely interested in one of the doctors who was checking the monitor next to Tony's bed. That's when Tony noticed he was hooked up to several machines and a drip. He must have been in a really bad way; he specifically stated he only wanted things being stuck in him unless he was close to death. Or dead.

"How long... was I out?" he asked cautiously. Lakshmi spared him a glace over his shoulder, then returned to his work, saying casually;

"Ah... about a week. Not surprising really; DNA fusion is a complex and risky business. You're lucky you survived at all you know," he tapped a little more, and Tony allowed the information to sink in.

DNA fusion?

And he said Elak had saved his life from the poison... oh god. He wasn't some sort of werewolf was he?

He let out a small squeak of terror, and he could have sworn he heard Lakshmi chuckle.

Sadistic bastard.

"DNA fusion...I don't have a tail or fur or some shit, do I?" he tried to make the query sound like it was a throwaway question of no real importance to him, but his couldn't keep the tremor from his voice.

"...no," he left the word hanging, and Tony could tell he was leaving something out,

"But?" he asked, twisting his sheet between his fingers.

"But, it _has _altered your mind. Elak has a brain very sensitive to magnetic and electrical waves. You've heard that people only use about 20% of their brains right? Well this is true of most species, including Elak's. Her brain has developed so that the unused part of her brain has been altered so it can manipulate and control these waves. Much like I can create illusion with that part of my brain. This means she can also control electronic equipment, as her brain can understand and converse with computer software via electrical and magnetic impulses. I do believe humans use the phrase; 'technopath'" Lakshmi explained. He had gone into what Tony had dubbed 'Science Mode'.

"That's nice, but what does that have to do with me?" Tony asked impatiently. Where was he going with this?

"She used her blood to combat the poison that the Jageia had on its fangs. Sort of like how you sometimes have to combat one poison with another to cancel them both out. The blood destroyed the compound in the poison that caused the DNA of the victim to break down. Unfortunately, the by product of this is that it causes to the DNA of the blood that had been entered into your system to fuse with your own."

"...still not following," Tony said blankly. His brain was still half asleep.

"I thought you were supposed to be a genius?" Lakshmi griped. "Elak fused her DNA with yours to save your life. The results of how it affects you are completely random. With Anubis it altered him physically on the outside, leaving his brain, for the majority, unaffected. Aside from being a little more intelligent than the average wolf and having a basic understanding of human emotion, he still has the basic thought pattern of a wolf. He just has a little more control over his instincts than an ordinary wolf."

"With you it seems to have been the opposite. It had altered your brain, and left your body; bone structure, skin colour, hair colour, limbs etc, untouched for the most part. You may find the odd difference; slightly more agile and flexible, stronger, taller, and a slight change in your eating and drinking habits, but physically you don't really appear to have changed. Your brain, on the other hand, has. The unused part of your brain has been changed, and is still under the process of changing. You will be able to control machinery like Elak once the process is complete, and stronger animalistic impulses, and occasionally the thought patterns of a Varg. Unfortunately you are most likely to have splitting headaches for the next week or so."

Tony felt like his heart had stopped beating. He placed his palm over the Arc Reactor and felt the steady thrum of the machinery. And something else. It was faint, but it felt almost as though the piece of machinery that had saved his life had a consciousness. It was distinctly weird.

"Interesting piece of tech you have there," Elak's raspy voice pulled him out of his reverie, and he instinctually moved his arms up to cover the glowing blue patch in a protective embrace. "No need to be self conscious or afraid my friend. I won't touch it." Tony frowned.

"It feels as though... it's alive or something," Tony said awkwardly, moving his arms away, but leaving one arm raised so his could trace the raised lip of the Arc Reactor with his index finger.

"It will. You can feel all of the electrical waves inside it. Your brain will now consider them alive. It's not really alive per say, but you will find most computers and anything with more complex software will be genuinely alive," the old varg raised a paw and placed the furry appendage over the Reactor. Tony shifted uncomfortably. This was bringing back unfortunate memories of Stane. Sensing his discomfort, the nurse moved a paw away and stood up.

"Get some rest," Lakshmi called from his station at the computers on the opposite side of the room. "We'll let you go in a few days when we deem you fit. In the mean time, get as much rest as you can to speed the process along a bit," Lakshmi gathered several folders and stacks of paper in his arms. Tony looked at him properly for the first time since he'd woken up then.

He looked exhausted. When was the last time the man had slept? Several days at least, by the looks of it. He'd kept a decent level of personal hygiene, but there was no doubt he looked a little rough around the edges. He was simply dressed in a pair of brown cords and a white shirt, with a long white doctor's coat hanging limply off his thin shoulders. The man looked in worse shape than he did. Tony noticed the grimace he pulled when he bent down to pick up a stray sheet of paper, and saw the slightly blood-stained bandage on his stomach when he stood up.

He defiantly had a new respect for the Kaame.

"Oh, and by the way," Lakshmi said, pausing in the door way with Elak at his heels. Tony could have sworn he'd seen a smile tugging at the man's lips, "Bruce has been _very_ worried about you I do believe he may have a little man crush. Just some food for thought." And with that the man left, narrowly avoiding the vase that came sailing towards his head. Elak snickered at him, and mimicked a thumbs up the best she could with paws, and limped out after the Kaame, leaving Tony alone in the room.

He needed to get down into the lab to check out all the changes in him. There were tests that the medical staff here would never dream of to check for complications.

Casting his eyes around the room, his magpie like mind focused on the rather thick notebook and discarded biro sitting on his bedside table. Lakshmi must have left it there when he went to wake him up.

Knowing the Illusion Master would most likely shank him for touching his stuff, he picked that notebook up anyway and began to rifle through it.

They were all medical test results. All for the tests Tony had planned to do once he got into that lab. Damn, that Kaame was good. Some of the tests done were ones even Tony himself hadn't thought of doing. Damn, he was really good. Flipping through the pages, he saw a message left for him on the second to last page.

NICE TRY TONY. YOU'RE NOT LEAVING THE MEDI BAY UNTIL I SAY SO, AND NOW YOU HAVE NO PRESSING REASON TO. ONE STEP AHEAD OF YOU.

Tony growled to himself and flipped the last page over. He roared with unrepressed laugher at the message the Kaame had left him on the last page, tears forming in the corners of his eyes at the hastily scribbled;

AND TOUCH MY THINGS AGAIN _ANTHONY_, AND I WILL HAVE TO SLOWLY DISEMBOWEL YOU AND FEED YOUR INNARDS TO SA'AR. YOU HAVE BEEN _WARNED_ MY FRIEND.

* * *

***Elsewhere in the tower, 05:34AM***

Lakshmi traipsed back into his room, eyes itching and burning with tiredness, and his arms laden with work. He had somehow landed himself the job of head medical expert. Not his best idea ever, but there were many injuries from the fight, and most of the injured were aliens, so none of the resident doctors had a clue on how to treat them.

So he had decided to volunteer.

He had never foreseen the sheer quantity of paperwork that had come with the job, and he would never be doing it again once all this was over. He was going to find a nice home on some uninhabited forest planet and retire. Maybe take Thor with him.

He kicked open the door to his room and shouldered his way inside, unceremoniously dumping the huge stack of paper work near the door, and moving to collapse on his bed. Thor was sprawled out on the bed, somehow managing to take up the entire king-sized bed with his vast frame. Lakshmi couldn't have cared less though. He merely stripped himself down to his boxers and curled up at Thor's side.

The god of Thunder gave a low grunt and rolled over of his side and wrapped his arms around Lakshmi's thin body. Said Kaame merely snuggled into the welcome body heat and twined his legs with Thor's. He had never thought he would be much a cuddler, but here he was.

"Busy day?" a low sleep hazed voice asked from somewhere just above Lakshmi's head. Lakshmi just have an affirmative grunt as a response and closed his eyes, pressing his face into Thor's magnificently sculpted chest. Thor chuckled and squeezed the body a little tighter to his own. "How is the Man of Iron?" Thor asked. Lakshmi gave a disgruntled groan at being kept awake, but answered anyway.

"Conscious. Bit confused, but fine. Now sleep," he mumbled. Thor was happy to agree. His partner had been having two or three hours sleep a day since the battle, and most of those hours were from where the pain medication he had been taking knocked him out. The injury he had attained at the battle had been severe, and had caused him to lose consciousness for quite some time. He had been working none stop since he'd woken. That had been five days ago. Thor ran his fingers over the bandages completely covering his chest and shoulders. It had been a terrible injury but the Kaame had been soldiering on, and he was glad he had finally decided to sleep.

He buried his face in the sweet smelling hair of his mate, and closed his eyes, finally being able to sleep with his lover in his arms once more.

_He wandered around in his mind that night, trawling through his memories for anything that may be of some help to him._

_The Jageia's methods on this planet were... unusual to say the least. They normally didn't bother with secrecy, preferring to go straight in for the kill._

_Maybe they needed this planet for something? Ransom perhaps, to allow access to one of the other planets in this realm. Asgard perhaps?_

_No... but then, why would they set a trap specifically to target him? It didn't make any sense! He didn't have any particular skill sets that would require Morpheus himself to send an assassin after him. His illusion skill was powerful, yes, but the Avengers could most likely take him down if they wanted to._

_He was extremely susceptible to long range attacks, as his illusions couldn't work very well at a distance. Hawkeye could probably take him down on his own._

_And he had already proven that his emotions severely clouded his judgement and planning skills, as he had walked straight into Zostar's trap. So it most certainly wasn't his leadership skills._

_So, not a skill set. He could cross that off the list of possibilities._

_The desire to completely wipe out the Kaame. Perhaps... but it didn't seem much like Morpheus to break his toys to go after one man, when if the planet was destroyed, he would die anyway._

_So that was off the list to. He was getting closer the answer surely._

_Perhaps it was knowledge? Yes... Morpheus may be insane, and a killer, but he knew that the most powerful weapon in the universe was knowledge. The blundering of the animals to evolve to be stronger, faster, bigger, was all for naught once one species gained enough knowledge to sharpen a stick or rock._

_Perhaps it was that then. But what could he know that could cause damage to Morpheus's plans?_

_Knowledge of his way of destroying planets? If he knew how it was done he could stop them, and they would be trapped here. Without the energy wave of the collapsing planet, their ship couldn't function._

_But he didn't know how they did it. Did he?_

_He sifted back though his memories; trying to find the last one he had of being on his planet._

_It was a very vivid memory. This was good, he would be able to analyse it carefully. He had never looked back on this one before. It had been carefully locked away in his mind as it was too painful to recollect._

_He pushed his emotion aside. He had to do this._

_He allowed the memory to envelop him._

_Viewing your own memories is always a curious experience. It felt like a dream. So real and solid, yet at the same time, he was constantly vaguely aware of the fact none of it was real._

_He was stood in a village, running people all around him. Wings flapping hysterically, blood splattered feathers floating through the air like snow._

_The blood of his kind was splattered on the ground like raindrops, being spread about by running feet, dragging limbs. Being soaked into the clothes adorning the body of a corpse._

_Lakshmi noticed. He noticed it all, not like the rest of his kind, running around like sheep that've had a wolf break into their pen. He stood in the middle of the chaos, taking everything in around him._

_He was dressed in a simple white t-shirt and linen trousers. Even in the murder and the screams he felt the warm wetness of the blood creeping up his trouser leg from where the bottom of it was being dragged through a bloody puddle. He saw the red on blood like the strongest contrast of his life, the red taking over the white being imprinted into his mind's eye._

_He watched himself move to one side to let a screaming mother dragging a small child behind her. The child was on his first set of antlers, the single points standing up tall to show off his single, and only, decade of life. So young for him to die._

_He pushed the sentimentality down and began to view the memory in a much more detailed manner._

_What was wrong with this scene?_

_He could feel the earth trembling. In his panic and fear, he had mistaken the trembles for his own juddering knees and the rumble of collapsing houses. He could see now that that wasn't the case. The rumbles were too strong and too deep seated for that. They were shaking the planet to its core._

_There were also cracks in the earth. Blood was seeping out of them as the drains began to overflow. But heat was pouring out too. That was most certainly odd. Normal earthquake cracks didn't go deep enough through the mantle to give out this much heat. Not in this non volcanic area, anyway._

_But the thing he noticed most of all, as insignificant in may have seemed at the time, was the rather unusual smell in the air._

_It was a sharp, tangy, citrus smell, one that made the nostrils contract to attempt to stop the smell getting in. Not an unpleasant smell, but it felt somewhat like snorting pepper. It was often used in the factories on the northern continent when they couldn't get the furnaces to get going, or the fire was beginning to die. It was also used in powerful explosives, as this was a very volatile and flammable herb, set off by the slightest jolt._

_But it wasn't used, or even native to this continent, for he lived in the south. So what could it be doing here?_

_Perhaps-_

There was a rustle of bed sheets and a jolt of the mattress, and Lakshmi's train of thought was derailed rather suddenly. Damn.

He heard the sound of Thor working the kinks out of his back with some very audible cracks and near growled in frustration. Damn him! He opened his eyes with a sleepy moan and saw morning light streaming mockingly though his bedroom window. Fucking sun.

The door slid shut and he was left alone in the bedroom with swirling thoughts.

No point trying to go back to sleep now, it just wasn't happening. Make a mental checklist of the things he needed to remember.

The earth was shaking.

It hadn't been just a coincidental earthquake.

Heat had been pouring out of the cracks.

And that smell. The smell of explosives.

Being someone of a rather high intellect, he immediately but two and two together, then dismissed the idea. They would need practically the planets weight in the herbal explosive to crack apart the mantel like that, and it would exactly be a very conspicuous operation.

So they were using it for something else. What though?

Urgh, it was too early in the morning for his brain to function properly. Later. He'd think about this at a later date.

* * *

***Avenger's HQ. Dining Room. 09:00AM***

Anubis was lying in his usual corner of the room, gnawing on his usual cut of meat at the usual time he usually ate in a morning.

The only _un_usual thing in his morning was the fan he appeared to have acquired in the last week.

Alex.

The damn animal wouldn't quit following him. Her psychotic friend never shut up and Alex's blunt and often offensive comments about everything never stopped either.

"I hear Tony's awake," Alex commented blandly. She was in her canine form, her blue nose buried in the bowl of fruit and cereal at her paws, blue tongue periodically flicking out of her mouth to scoop up her breakfast like a spoon. Both of them had half healed wounds still raw and red, and they both winced often as they moved.

Her deep blue eyes flickered over to him, and she wrinkled her nose slightly in distaste of Anubis's choice of meal.

As it happens, the odd creature was a strict vegetarian, much to her friends distaste. Personally Anubis thought she only ate like that just to irritate her friend. Her own breakfast was a fruit salad and a mixture of different grains and nuts, which Anubis had dubbed 'Rabbit Food'. Alex had merely laughed in his face and told him to fuck off.

"Shame. I like him better when he's sleeping; he actually stops speaking for once," Anubis said, enjoying the peals of giggles it brought from Alex. No, he didn't, he chastised himself; he was annoyed by the woman's presence. But for all she irritated him, he actually _did_ like her company. She was a little quirky, and once he realised all her offensive comments were in good humour, she was quite funny too. Her blunt, open and honest view on the world was refreshing.

"Ah well, I can always get Sammie to sew his mouth shut." she pointed to her friend, who was currently fawning over a rather amused Loki. Although she often terrified the God of Mischief with her rather insane mind, the two had struck up a rather odd friendship, mostly over planning on killing their enemies, although it was clear to more or less everyone but Loki in the tower that Sammie was infatuated with him.

Anubis chuckled. The tower had recently become a buzz of activity. New arrivals were coming in every day from all over the place. Most so far were residents of Earth, but there had been a few wandering nomads, and a few Off Worlders, as Lakshmi called them; ones that lived permanently on another planet.

"Pft, Sammie makes more noise than Stark," Anubis snorted.

"Well I'll sew her mouth shut then. Or give her a big piece of cake to shut her up."

"I think she'd rather shut up by using a certain part of our resident God of Mischief's anatomy." Alex roared with laughter, gaining the attention of a few of the other people in the room. Sa'ar looked down from his perch, rolled his eyes, and returned to his preening. Lakshmi glanced over, and laughter danced in his eyes even if his face remained impassive, even if his mate roared with an unrestrained laughter.

"Oh god… you crack me up," Alex breathed once she had managed to stop howling with laughter, then swiftly dissolved into another round of laughter when Sammie shot her a confused look. Everyone had stopped now to look over at the white furred, blue feathered canine rolling around in fits of hysterical laughter. She stopped laughing when Lakshmi came over to prod her with his foot.

"Alex… I said you can stay in the tower _if _you behave. Don't make me kick you out," he sighed, although his eyes glittered with amusement. Alex snickered and silenced slowly.

"Sorry Lakshmi," she panted, standing up and wiping her eyes. "Good bye then," she nodded to Anubis, and trotted off, Sammie standing up to jog at her heels. Anubis looked at her go filled with amusement and confusion.

"Why is she here?" Anubis asked curiously. Lakshmi shrugged.

"They owe me a favour," he said casually. "And I owe them a few weeks of lodging." He scratched his head casually, then yawned off some more of his morning haze. He'd only had a few hours of sleep, but for him it was more than enough to function. Much to Thor's annoyance.

"Why?" Anubis asked curiously. Did the mysteries of this man ever stop?

"He saved my life," Alex had appeared again, standing at Lakshmi's heel, looking rather sheepish.

"What happened?" Anubis asked. Alex immediately looked both embarrassed and angry at the same time.

"None of your business!" she exclaimed angrily, running out of the room again, tail feathers held high in the air behind him. Lakshmi smirked at her swift departure, and Anubis could see the laughter in his eyes, and an ever so slight twitch of his lips. He really was becoming much more expressive as of late. Thor was really a good influence on the stoic man. He chuckled, and then wandered off to piss Hawkeye off for a bit. A favourite pastime

"Lakshmi!" Thor called. Lakshmi turned around and plopped himself in the seat opposite Thor and pulling his huge full English breakfast towards him and proceeded to wolf his food down like it was going out of fashion. "You certainly are hungry today," he laughed, enjoying his boyfriend actually eating for once.

"Working all day again," he mumbled through a mouthful of eggs. Thor sighed and picked at his own breakfast, disheartened now. Lakshmi looked up at him, fork still in his mouth, bits of egg dangling from his mouth. He chewed slowly, clearly thinking, then swallowed and sighed. "There's not much I can do about it. You can come and help if you want," he suggested, feeling a sinking in his gut when a grin spread across Thor's face. What had he let himself in for?

"Alright then," he agreed, his eyes crinkling as he smiled.

* * *

***Medical Ward, Avenger's HQ, 12:23PM***

"THOR! FOR FUCK'S SAKE, DON'T GIVE HER THAT!" Lakshmi bellowed, running over to swat the pills Thor was about to give to an equine creature with huge curling antlers and gold and silver fur who looked really surprised at Lakshmi's outburst.

Thor looked insulted but a little sheepish at trying to give someone the wrong medication. Again.

"Sorry." he said in a small voice, lowering his head in embarrassment and scurrying away from the patient, who watching him go with liquid black eyes glittering with amusement.

"Your mate is amusing," the equine nickered in a thick French accent. She gave a quiet nickering laugh and flicked an ear. Lakshmi snorted and scooped the pills of the floor from where Thor had dropped them.

"You wouldn't be saying that if he'd fed you pills that could have killed you," he grumbled. She gave another nickering laugh and shook her head.

"But he didn't," she dipped her head and took the correct pills Lakshmi proffered to her. She bobbed her head in thanks.

"Go have something to eat, then come back this evening before dinner for the next lot," he sighed, patting the mare's neck and leaving to go scold Thor. He was sat on one of the plastic waiting room chairs, tapping his feet nervously, looking up at Lakshmi nervously and he strode up to him, putting his hands on his hips and scowling. All the other patients waiting mysteriously vanished to the chairs as far away from Thor as possible, leaving at least five empty chairs either side of him.

"If you do anything like that again," he left a pause for effect and narrowed his eyes, "You will be celibate for the next month." he smirked and strutted off, leaving Thor being laughed at by most of the people in the room. "NEXT!" he called out behind him.

He was surprised when a purple Dragonkit jumped onto the examination table.

"Kolyei?" The winged feline smiled and fluttered his wings happily. There was a heavy smattering of silver around his muzzle and shoulders now, but there was still that defiant glitter in those amethyst eyes. You would have never though this gentle looking old feline was once the behemoth that had been wreaking havoc on Gallifrey.

"It's been a while," he purred in a voice cracked and wheezy with age. Lakshmi stroked the top of his head.

"Hm, how come you're here on Earth?" Lakshmi asked, spreading one of his wings so he could check the wing for damage, plucking a few damaged feathers and straightening a few bent ones.

"Retirement. But I figured one last fight to settle a few debts I owe. I want to have something to be remembered by apart from murder when I die. I want to wash the sins of my past clean and die in peace. It won't be long now anyhow." Koylei was never one to mince words, much like Lakshmi himself, and he never tried to sugar coat what he was trying to say. He just came out and said it. Lakshmi nodded and picked the old Dragonkit up, hugging him close.

"It will be nice to fight one last fight with you." there was no point saying that he wasn't close to death, because he was most certainly getting on his years and his body just couldn't go on much longer. "So how's your health holding up? What you here for?" He put the animal down and straightened his coat, fishing in his pockets so he could jot everything down, inwardly smiling as he talked to his old friends once more.

So many would be coming to fight this last fight, and he would be with them all every step of the way.

* * *

***Tony's Room, Medical Ward, Avengers HQ, One Week Later, 9:00AM***

Tony was sat on his bed, legs dangling off the side, looking with a sort of mindless interest at the warm shafts of sunlight entering into his room through his open blinds. It had been two weeks since the raid, and he'd been conscious for a week now.

His health was improving greatly, as his stint in hospital had meant alcohol was a no go area, and he was getting food and sleep at regular times.

He hadn't changed much as Lakshmi had said he most probably wouldn't, except he was partial to meat more now, and he like it rare. He was sure he would probably eat it raw if everyone around him wasn't completely disgusted by the sight of a full grown man eating a raw steak. Heck, he'd eat it off the cow if he got hold of it.

It was the mental changes he was finding it hard to cope with. He had often caught himself labelling people 'beta' or 'omega', and he had almost kicked himself when he had subconsciously labelled Lakshmi 'alpha'. Worst of all, when Bruce had entered the room, his inner Varg, which was what he had taken to calling the raging animal instinct, had gone wild and called Bruce 'mate'. It had been one of the most awkward conversations he had ever had in his life.

He heard the soft 'tap tap' of Lakshmi's shoes coming down the hall, and turned his head to watch the door slide open, revealing the Illusion Master coming in, with his head bent over the tablet in his hands, tapping away at it, his long hair forming a curtain on either side of his face, framing around his eyes, which were darting around continuously, meaning he was writing something as he tapped.

"So?" Tony asked rather loudly and pointedly, gaining Lakshmi's attention. The man looked up at him through dark lashes, his head still bowed over the tablet.

"So what?" he asked vacantly, eyes flickering down to whatever it was he was doing. Probably still trying to get records of all the new comers arriving in floods to the tower. It was a job that was constantly keeping him busy.

"So, am I allowed to get out today? You said I could," he huffed. Lakshmi nodded and tucked the tablet away in an inside pocket of his coat and strode over.

He bent down and peered closely into his eyes, checking for something Tony couldn't fathom.

Then he heard something move not far off behind him, and he snapped his head around to see what was there. There wasn't anything there though, and he whipped back to Lakshmi who looked rather smug.

"Your senses are most certainly heightened. Not even a dog would have heard that." he gave him a careful look up and down.

"Am I free to go?" Lakshmi considered.

"Sure. You have to come in morning, noon and night though for the necessary medication and I will make you sit in here and eat a whole meal. No coffee and absolutely _no_ alcohol." Tony looked like Lakshmi had just killed a puppy in front of him.

"What!?" he cried, jumping up and trying to square the other man up. "What the hell?!" Lakshmi raised an eyebrow, and proceeded to usher Tony out of the ward.

"And if you don't comply by my rules I will drag you here at each of the times and force it all down your throat myself." Tony blinked, and as Lakshmi pushed him out of the room, he promptly crashed into Bruce's arms.

The physicist looked a little flustered as a squirming pile of Tony fell into his arms as he went to visit, and Lakshmi tried not to snigger as he went bright red and cleared his throat, trying to stand a rather dazed Tony up.

"Are you alright?" Bruce asked as Tony straightened his top and blushed crimson.

"You did that on purpose!" Tony fumed, whipping round to glare at the Kaame. Lakshmi snorted and raised an eyebrow, a lopsided smirk quirking at his lips.

"Perhaps," he ventured. Tony glared, and then the man had the _audacity _to actually _wink_ at him, before vanishing in a puff of smoke. Damn illusions. He was most likely still here waiting to see what transpired from his meddling. Pervert.

"You know, for a stoic man," Tony huffed, striding off, "he doesn't half like to show off."

* * *

**Phew, finished! Sorry for the REALLY long gap between updates, but I was away, then I had a lodger for a week, I've been working, school's started, homework, yada yada yada. Boring right? But I got it done eventually! Not sure about this one, I feel as though it doesn't really flow right, but it will have to do. A thank you goes out to all my viewers and reviewers. I made this one a bit longer to say sorry. R&R peoples!**


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